Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Widespread Torture Continues In Afghanistan

As Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term as president of the United States, a new report from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) states that
torture persists and remains a serious concern in numerous detention facilities across Afghanistan.
According to the Associated Press,
Afghan authorities leave detainees hanging from the ceiling by their wrists, beat them with cables and wooden sticks, administer electric shocks, twist their genitals and threaten to shove bottles up their anuses or to kill them.
Georgette Gagnon, Director of Human Rights for UNAMA:
UNAMA found a persistent lack of accountability for perpetrators of torture with few investigations and no prosecutions for those responsible. ... Without deterrents and disincentives to use torture, including a robust, independent investigation process, criminal prosecutions and courts' consistent refusal to accept confessions gained through torture, Afghan officials have no incentive to stop torture.
You can download the entire UNAMA report here.


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3 comments:

  1. laura kFriday, January 25, 2013 5:41:00 PM

    I've been amazed and disgusted at the praise I hear for Obama's inauguration speech. People who ought to know better confuse rhetoric with policy.

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  2. allanFriday, January 25, 2013 8:10:00 PM

    Check out David Sirota's piece at TruthDig:

    "He gives fabulous speeches teeming with popular liberal ideas, often refuses to take the actions necessary to realize those ideas and then banks on most voters, activists, reporters and pundits never bothering to notice—or care about—his sleight of hand.
    Whether railing on financial crime and then refusing to prosecute Wall Street executives or berating health insurance companies and then passing a health care bill bailing out those same companies, Obama embodies a cynical ploy—one that relies on a celebrity-entranced electorate focusing more on TV-packaged rhetoric than on legislative reality."

    ***

    Obama is currently conducting wars (declared and undeclared) in at least six countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya.

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  3. laura kMonday, February 04, 2013 5:48:00 AM

    Thanks for that (Sirota). Great stuff, am sharing.

    ReplyDelete