JURIST Sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh
PAPER CHASE NEWSBURSTDigest RSS feedFull RSS feed
Serious law. Primary sources. Global perspective.


Friday, February 09, 2007

Amnesty urges independent probe of Guantanamo abuse allegations
Jeannie Shawl at 8:57 AM ET

[JURIST] The US military's determination that there is not sufficient evidence to support allegations of abuse [statement, PDF; JURIST report] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prompted Amnesty International [advocacy website] Thursday to renew its calls for an independent investigation into the allegations. In a statement [text], Amnesty called the military's investigation into the abuse allegations [JURIST report] "flawed" as no actual detainees were interviewed and said that "secrecy surrounding the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay allows human rights abuses to go unpunished."

The statement continued:

The US administration investigating itself is not enough. Instead, the US authorities should allow independent bodies, including Amnesty International, to visit the detention centre and interview all prisoners in order to ensure that their complaints are not going unheard.
The latest abuse allegations arose after Marine Sgt. Heather Cerveny provided a two-page sworn statement [PDF] last year claiming she conversed with a group of off-duty Marines who bragged of beating and abusing detainees. Southern Command said earlier this week that "investigators conducted 20 separate interviews" with the personnel involved and determined that "the evidence did not support any allegations of mistreatment or harassment."





Link |  | print | subscribe | RSS feeds | latest newscast | Facebook page

For more legal news check the Paper Chase Archive...


LATEST LEGAL NEWS

 Federal appeals court rules on legal definition of piracy
10:39 AM ET, May 24

 Tunisia to extradite Libya ex-PM for trial
10:26 AM ET, May 24

 Bahrain to address human rights record
9:58 AM ET, May 24

 click for more...

Get JURIST legal news delivered daily to your e-mail!

LATEST FORUM

Limiting Partisan Barriers to Voter Participation
DOMESTIC
Chris Elmendorf
UC Davis School of Law

ABOUT

Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.

CONTACT

Paper Chase welcomes comments, tips and URLs from readers. E-mail us at JURIST@jurist.org