The Bush administration is waging a war of terror and torture against workers and oppressed peoples at home and abroad, the Amnesty International Report 2005 confirms.

In the section on the United States of America, covering events from January-December 2004, Amnesty states in its introduction: ‘Hundreds of detainees continued to be held without charge or trial at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

‘Thousands of people were detained during US military and security operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and routinely denied access to their families and lawyers.

‘Military investigations were initiated or conducted into allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by US personnel in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and into reports of deaths in custody and ill-treatment by US forces elsewhere in Iraq, and in Afghanistan and Guantánamo.

‘Evidence came to light that the US administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques that violated the UN Convention against Torture.

‘Pre-trial military commission hearings opened in Guantánamo but were suspended pending a US court ruling.

‘In the USA, more than 40 people died after being struck by police tasers, raising concern about the safety of such weapons.

‘The death penalty continued to be imposed and carried out.’

In the sub-section: ‘Torture and ill-treatment of detainees outside the USA’ the report says that ‘released documents showed that the administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques that violated the UN Convention against Torture and that the President had stated in a central policy memorandum dated 7 February 2002 that, although the USA’s values “call for us to treat detainees humanely”, there are some “who are not legally entitled to such treatment”.

‘The documents discussed, among other things, ways in which US agents could avoid the international prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including by arguing that the President could override international and national laws prohibiting such treatment.’

The report notes: ‘The activities of the CIA in Iraq and elsewhere, for example, remained largely shrouded in secrecy.

‘No investigation dealt with the USA’s alleged involvement in secret transfers between countries and any torture or ill-treatment that may have ensued. Many documents remained classified.’

Turning to the USA itself, under ‘Detentions of “enemy combatants” in the USA’, the report says: ‘In June the US Supreme Court ruled that Yaser Esam Hamdi, a US citizen held for more than two years in military custody without charge or trial as an “enemy combatant”, was entitled to due process and habeas corpus review of his detention by the US courts.

‘His case was remanded for further proceedings before the lower courts.

‘While the latter were pending, he was released from US custody in October and transferred to Saudi Arabia, under conditions agreed between his lawyers and the US government.

‘These included renouncing his US citizenship and undertaking not to leave Saudi Arabia for five years and never to travel to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan or Syria.

‘José Padilla, a US national, and Ali-Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a Qatari national, remained detained without charge or trial as “enemy combatants”.

‘José Padilla had filed a similar petition to Yaser Hamdi before the US Supreme Court but the Court rejected his petition on the grounds that his appeal had been filed in the wrong jurisdiction.

‘The case was pending a rehearing in South Carolina, where he was detained in a military prison at the end of 2004.’

In its next section, the report continues: ‘Conscientious objectors Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía Castillo and Sergeant Abdullah William Webster were imprisoned; they were prisoners of conscience. Both men remained in prison at the end of the year.’

Both had refused to serve in Iraq, questioning the legality of the war and military actions being carried out under the occupation.
As in Britain, asylum seekers and migrant workers are abused in the US.

The Amnesty report says: ‘In November, National Public Radio (NPR) reported allegations of abuse of immigration detainees held at three New Jersey jails, including Passaic Jail and Hudson County Correctional Center.

‘They included claims that two prisoners were beaten while handcuffed and that others were bitten by guard dogs.

‘AI had reported on similar abuses in 2003.

‘Most of the alleged victims in the NPR report were deported before investigations could be completed.

‘The Department of Homeland Security said it was reviewing various contract detention facilities but did not confirm which jails were covered in the review.’

Under the sub-heading ‘Ill-treatment and excessive use of force by law enforcement officials’ the report continues: ‘There were reports of ill-treatment and deaths in custody involving “new generation” tasers: powerful dart-firing electroshock weapons deployed or trialled by more than 5,000 US police and correctional agencies.

‘More than 40 people died after being struck by US police tasers, bringing to more than 70 the total number of such deaths reported since 2001.

‘While coroners generally attributed cause of death to factors such as drug intoxication, in at least five cases they found the taser played a role.

‘Most of the people who died were unarmed men who did not appear to pose a serious threat when they were electroshocked.

‘Many were subjected to multiple shocks and some to additional force such as pepper spray or dangerous restraint holds, including hogtying (placing someone face-down with their hands and feet bound together from behind).

‘There were reports that tasers were used by officers routinely to shock people who were mentally disturbed or simply refused to obey commands.
‘Children and the elderly were among those shocked.

‘In most such cases, the officers involved were cleared of wrongdoing. In some departments tasers had become the most common force tool used by officers against a wide range of suspects.

‘AI reiterated its call on the US authorities to suspend use and transfers of tasers and other stun weapons pending a rigorous, independent inquiry into their use and effects.’

Finally, the US state continued its policy of executions.

The report notes: ‘In 2004, 59 people were executed, bringing to 944 the total number of prisoners put to death since the US Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on executions in 1976.

‘Texas accounted for 23 of the year’s executions, and 336 of all the executions in the USA since 1976.

‘Five people were released from death row in 2004 on grounds of innocence, bringing to 117 the total number of such cases since 1973.’

It adds: ‘The USA continued to contravene international law by using the death penalty against child offenders – people who were under 18 at the time of the crime. Around 70 child offenders remained on death row during the year, more than a third of them in Texas.’

Also: ‘Prisoners with histories of serious mental illness continued to be sentenced to death and executed.’