Impunity Watch: North America

Imprisoned Detainee Claims Torture by the U.S. in Afghanistan & Guantanamo

By:  Lindsey Brady
Impunity Watch Managing Editor - News

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Murat Kurnaz is a resident of Germany who is claiming he was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and then imprisoned for two months at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.  Kurnaz was 19 when he was transferred to Guantanamo from a Kandahar in early 2002.  Kurnaz claims he was tortured by American interrogators while they insisted he was a member of al-Qaeda and linked to Mohamed Atta.  Atta is an alleged plotter behind the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center.

Kurnaz claims that when he responded to interrogators that he did not know Atta or refused to speak that the interrogators tortured him.  Kurnaz lists being hung from a ceiling by his arms for nearly a week ,enduring freezing temperatures, having his head dunked in water, and being given electric shocks to his feet among the many forms of torture.  Kurnaze alleged that torture continued to occur systematically when he was a U.S. prisoner in 2005 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  After his transfer to Cuba the German government officials "confirmed that Kurnaz had no links to terrorist groups and had probably been seized by mistake" according to the Washington Post.  Kurnaz spent five years at Guantanamo Bay and was released in 2006 after the U.S. received pressure from the German government.

Kurnaz plans to write a book detailing his experiences under U.S. custody.  Bryan Whitman, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said Kurnaz's allegations of torture lack the evidence to be credible.  Specifically Whitman was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, "the abuses Mr. Kurnaz alleges are not only unsubstantiated, they are implausible and outlandish."  Kurnaz's lawyer, Baher Azmy, however insists that his client's experiences were real and are consistent with other reports of detainees who allege torture.

For more information please see:

Washington Post - Ex-Afghanistan Detainee Alleges Torture by U.S. - 29 March 2008

JURIST - Ex-Guantanamo Bay Detainee Describes Torture Allegations - 29 March 2008

Newsbusters - CBS's Pelley:  Innocent Man Tortured in "America's Shadow Prison System" - 31 March 2008

BRIEF: Inspector General Releases Report on Use of National Security Letters

WASHINGTON, United States – The Department of Justice Inspector General has released a report concluding that the “Federal Bureau of Investigation was continuing to issue National Security Letters unlawfully.” 

National Security Letters are a form of subpoena that are issued to a specifically targeted entity.  These Letters compel the entity to turn over “various records and data” pertaining to individual people.  National Security Letters do not allow recipients of the letters to acknowledge that the letters have even been issued.  Still further, National Security Letters require no judicial order for implementation. 

The Inspector General’s report was released as Congress continues to debate over whether to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies who assisted the government while the government had no “Congressionally-mandated authority” to use the information to track phone calls and emails from specific individuals. 

President Bush has vowed to veto any legislation that does not grant these telecommunication companies retroactive immunity. 

For more information, please see:

IPS – Reforms Fail to Curb FBI Spying – 18 March 2008

New York Times – FBI Made ‘Blanket’ Demands for Phone Records – 13 March 2008 

BRIEF: Inspector General Releases Report on Use of National Security Letters

WASHINGTON, United States – The Department of Justice Inspector General has released a report concluding that the “Federal Bureau of Investigation was continuing to issue National Security Letters unlawfully.” 

National Security Letters are a form of subpoena that are issued to a specifically targeted entity.  These Letters compel the entity to turn over “various records and data” pertaining to individual people.  National Security Letters do not allow recipients of the letters to acknowledge that the letters have even been issued.  Still further, National Security Letters require no judicial order for implementation. 

The Inspector General’s report was released as Congress continues to debate over whether to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies who assisted the government while the government had no “Congressionally-mandated authority” to use the information to track phone calls and emails from specific individuals. 

President Bush has vowed to veto any legislation that does not grant these telecommunication companies retroactive immunity. 

For more information, please see:

IPS – Reforms Fail to Curb FBI Spying – 18 March 2008

New York Times – FBI Made ‘Blanket’ Demands for Phone Records – 13 March 2008 

Destroyed C.I.A. Videotapes Present New Challenges For Gitmo Detainees

By Andrew Benfield
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, North America

WASHINGTON, United States – Hani Abdullah, Yemeni prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, has sued the United States for his illegal detention.  The federal judge presiding over Abdullah’s case has entertained the possibility that the Central Intelligence Agency, by destroying videotapes that depict harsh interrogation tactics, violated the court order requiring it to preserve “all evidence relevant to the prisoner.”

In an effort to avoid potential legal trouble and internal investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed hundred of hours of videotape that showed the interrogations of many terrorist suspects. 

However, the destruction of the videotapes has drawn criminal and congressional investigations.  In addition, terror suspects and other prisoners have raised challenges against their incarceration due to the destruction of the tapes. 

The destruction of tapes has affected the government’s ability to prosecute detained terror suspects as well.  The prosecution of Ali al-Marri could be in jeopardy because the Pentagon recently revealed that it destroyed tapes of Marri’s interrogation.  Undestroyed tapes show the Central Intelligence Agency’s “rough treatment” of Marri.  These undestroyed tapes could prove to be “embarrassing” if presented at Marri’s trial. 

When Gen. Hayden announced that the tapes were destroyed he asserted that the tapes were “not relevant to any internal, legislative or judicial inquiries.”  Challenges by Abdullah and Marri demonstrate that the destroyed tapes did hold some relevance to on going judicial inquires. 

The tapes were destroyed in an attempt to ensure the safety of Central Intelligence Agency agents.  Recently, officers involved in the decision to destroy the tapes have stated that the primary objective of destroying the videotapes was to avoid the “legal risks that officers shown on the tapes might face.” 

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Tapes’ Destruction Hovers Over Detainee Cases – 28 March 2008

The Mercury News – Destroyed tapes create legal mess for CIA – 28 March 2008

Fox News – No Uniform Practice to Preserve Military Interrogation Videotapes, Pentagon Reviews Finds – 13 March 2008

BRIEF: Supreme Court Denies Order to Retry Mexican Death Row Inmate

In rejecting President Bush’s executive order to retry a Mexican on death row in Texas the US Supreme Court announced a decision on Tuesday that critics claim highlights “America’s weak system for complying with international law” and may in fact “undercut a whole category of treaties.” 

Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen, received the death sentence for the 1994 rape and murder of two Texas teenagers.  Following his arrest, Medellin was not permitted to seek the support of Mexican consular officials by American authorities. 

The International Court of Justice, following a claim filed on behalf of Mexico, ruled that the United States had to take Medellin off of death row.  In a political move that surprised many in his administration, President Bush attempted to compel Texas to provide Medellin with a new trial by way of an executive order.

Supporters of the recent Supreme Court decision applaud the limitation placed on executive authority.  Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that, “the president’s authority to act, as with the exercise of any governmental power, ‘must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself.’” 

For more information, please see:

OneNewsNow.com – Supreme Court Overrules Bush’s Order to Retry a Death Row Inmate – 28 March 2008

Time – How Bush’s Treaty Power Grab Failed – 27 March 2008

Boston.com – Court Rebukes Bush in Death Penalty Case – 26 March 2008

Guatemala Starts Trial on Disappearances

By Gabrielle Meury
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

CHIMALTENANGO, Guatemala - Guatemala’s first trial for enforced disappearances began on March 10. Felipe Cusanero, a former paramilitary, was accused of participating in the enforced disappearance of civilians with the complicity of the army. Cusanero collaborated with the army as a “military commissioner,” recruiting local civilians to provide information and intelligence on other villagers. The term “forced disappearance” refers to state-sponsored abductions in which the victim is never seen again or accounted for.  According to prosecutors and victims’ families, Cusanero was responsible for the disappearance of at least six people in the village of Choatalum, farming village of mostly Mayan inhabitants. Choatalum is one of the regions hit hardest by the civil war in terms of human rights violations.

Cusanero’s trial began in 2003 when six villagers filed a legal complaint before the public prosecutor’s office.  According to the complaint, the six missing people were illegally detained in the village and never heard from again. When families asked for information about their missing loved ones, Cusanero refused to tell them anything and threatened them. On the 10th, Plaintiff Hilarion Lopez testified that his 24 year old son was taken away by 30 soldiers at 11:00 one night. When he asked about his son, the soldiers responded that “the work was done,” and told him to stop asking around because otherwise he “would get it too.”

An estimated 600,000 to 1.4 million Guatemalans participated in “Civil Auto-Defense Patrols” organized to patrol towns in search of potential leftist guerrillas. The army trained and armed the civilians in the Patrols to assist the military. As a result of the 36 year internal armed conflict, an estimated 200,000 people are dead and 45,000 have disappeared. The military’s scorched earth campaigns reduced hundreds of Mayan villages to cinders in hopes of choking off civilian support for guerrillas. Hostilities ended with a peace agreement in 1996.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Seeking Justice in Guatemala- 11 March 2008

Amnesty International- Guatemala Disappearance Trial Begins- 18 March 2008

IPS- Rights- Guatemala: Trial on Disappearances Marks a “Before” and “After” – 11 March 2008

Jurist- First Guatemala Civil War Disappearance Trial Opens- 11 March 2008

AP News- Guatemala Starts Landmark Trial- 11 March 2008

Joint Study Attacks Jamaica's Justice System

By:  Andrew Benfield
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, North America

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) teamed with the George Washington University to produce a human rights study chronicling police shootings in Jamaica.  The joint study, “Killing Impunity: Fatal Police Shootings and Extrajudicial Executions in Jamaica,” investigated the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI), the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Jamaican judicial system.

More specifically, the study attacked the abilities of the Bureau of Special Investigations.  The Bureau of Special Investigations is responsible cases that involve the “discharge of a firearm” by a police officer. 

The study found that the Bureau of Special Investigations was “overworked and overwhelmed” and unable to complete its investigations within the six week required period.  The Bureau of Special Investigations inability to complete “effective investigations” has drawn criticism because it demonstrates the “institutional bias that can occur when cops have to police cops.” 

Recently, the Jamaica Constabulary Force revised its Human Rights and Police Use of Force and Firearms Policy.  Police have the right to defend themselves from violence and may take “pre-emptive action to diffuse or avert violence.”  However, a police officer is required to take “appropriate and proportionate” action.  A violation of these rules opens the officer to criminal and civil actions as well as complaints to the department and public inquest in death shootings. 

These revisions are an attempt to curb the increased incidents of police shootings.  In 2007, Jamaica had over 270 people killed in confrontations with the police.

For more information, please see:

Jamaica Gleaner - Report Gives Failing Grade to Justice in Jamaica - 12 March 2008

Jamaica Gleaner - Human Rights and Police Use of Force and Firearms Policy - 19 March 2008

IPS - Grieving Father Takes on Police Impunity - 25 September 2007

BRIEF: International Human Rights Commission to Hear Mexico's "Dirty War" Case

MEXICO CITY, Mexico-  The Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights has filed a complaint with the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Mexico. The Commission alleges that the Mexican government failed to adequately respond to the 1974 disappearance of guerrilla sympathizer Rosendo Radilla.

Radilla was allegedly detained by soldiers in the city of Atoyac, a city widely reputed to be a “hotbed of activity” of leftist guerrilla groups. Radilla’s supporters claim that the Mexican government has not done enough to resolve Radilla’s case. Radilla’s disappearance was just one of an estimated 1,200 disappearances that occurred as a result of Mexico’s “dirty war” in the 1960s and 1970s.

The human rights violations committed in Mexico’s 18 year “dirty war” were outlined in a 2006 report commissioned by  Mexican then-President Vicente Fox. The crimes were committed by Mexican military and included the torture and execution of hundreds of citizens and suspected guerrillas as well as a campaign to deny food to residents where guerillas operated.

For more information, please see:

San Diego Union Tribune- International Human Rights Commission Files “Dirty War” Complaint Against Mexico -18 March 2008

Jurist- Inter-American Rights Court to Hear Mexico “Dirty War” Case- 19 March 2008

Jurist- Mexico Government Report Alleges Crimes Against Humanity in “Dirty War” – 27 February 2006

BRIEF: US Marine Charged with Murder of Unarmed Iraqi Detainee

WASHINGTON, United States – As President Bush announced that the war in Iraq was a worthwhile and winnable endeavor on the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion, Sgt. Ryan Weemer was charged with murder following incriminating admissions during a polygraph test for a position with the Secret Service.

Sgt Weemer is the third US marine to be charged in relation to a 2004 confrontation in Falluja during Operation Phantom Fury.  He is accused of executing a detainee who was being held by the US military in a vacant house in Falluja. 

II found guilty, Sgt. Weemer could spend the rest of his life in prison.  Sgt. Weemer has also been charged with the dereliction of duty.

Intense fighting occurred in Falluja between April and November 2004.  During this period of hostilities, human rights activists have charged that the US marines used chemical weapons, namely white phosphorous, against Iraqi fighters and civilians.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Iraq Murder Charge for US Marine – 19 March 2008

RadioFreeEurope – Iraq:  Bush Says War Still Worth Fighting – And Winning – 19 March 2008

The Independent – US Forces ‘Used Chemical Weapons’ During Assault on City of Fallujah – 8 November 2005

UPDATE: F.B.I. Report Reveals Improper Subpoena Use

By Gabrielle Meury
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States- A report released on March 13 by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General on the F.B.I.’s use of National Security Letters reveals a systematic, widespread abuse of power. The Justice Department's Inspector General found that in March 2007, the F.B.I. routinely violated the standards for using National Security Letters.

This report came a year after Inspector General Glenn Fine’s first report on national security letters in connection with terrorism on spy investigations. The original report, which covered 2004 and 2005, found serious systematic failures by the Bureau in its use of the letters.

New procedures were implemented in response to last year’s report to govern how FBI agents use national security letters and prohibit the use of exigent letters- emergency letters to telecommunication firms to obtain telephone records. From 2003 to 2005, FBI agents sent more than 700 of these letters, violating requirements of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Justice and FBI guidelines by falsely stating they were needed for specific national security investigations under grand jury investigation. The F.B.I. promised the telecommunication firms that the emergency records demands would be followed up with formal subpoenas or properly processed letters.  Generally these follow-up materials were never provided. In response to this problem, senior officials of the F.B.I. repeatedly approved the use of “blanket” records demands to justify the improper collection of thousands of phone records.  The F.B.I. appears to have used the blanket records demands at least 11 times in 2006 alone as a quick way to clean up mistakes made over several years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Patrick Leahy, promised to hold a hearing on the report. He said that the report “outlines more abuses and what appears to be the improper use of national security letters for years in a systemic failure throughout the FBI.” Michael German, ACLU National Security Policy Counsel and former FBI Agent, stated that "The FBI has flagrantly put aside the rule of law and its internal guidelines time and again, Without an outside check, agents are able to demand at will and ask questions later.”

For more information, please see:

CNN- Report: FBI abuse of investigative tool continued in 2006- 13 March 2008

New York Times- FBI Made “Blanket” Demands for Phone Records- 13 March 2008

Boston Globe-  FBI improperly justified privacy abuses, inspector finds- 14 March 2008

ACLU- FBI Audit Exposes Widespread Abuse of Patriot Act Powers- 13 March 200