CAIRO — Receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, US President Barack Obama is facing accusation of creating impunity framework for former officials implicated in authorizing torture. "The (former president George W.) Bush administration constructed a legal framework for torture," Jameel Jaffer, National Security Project Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said in a statement on the group's website.
"Now the Obama administration is constructing a legal framework for impunity."
Hours after his inauguration, Obama has promised to close the US notorious detention center Guantanamo and secret CIA prisons.
He has also vowed to scrap all harsh interrogation techniques authorized by the Bush administration against terror suspects.
"But this administration is also shielding Bush administration officials from civil liability, criminal investigation and even public scrutiny for their role in authorizing torture," Jaffer said.
Last April, Obama said interrogators who had used waterboarding on terror suspects will not face prosecution.
He also released Bush-era memos specifying that the practice did not constitute torture.
The Bush administration has sanctioned the use of aggressive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding and sleeping deprivation, against suspects.
It was embroiled in shocking detainee abuse scandals in the notorious Guantanamo detention center, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Bush administration also authorized the CIA to operate awork of secret detention centers in different world countries and fly detainees to countries where they were tortured.
Damaging
ACLU, which has pursued nearly a dozen cases against the US government since 2003 related to prisoner abuse, dubbed Obama stance as “disappointing”.
"We're increasingly disappointed and alarmed by the current administration's stance on accountability for torture," said Jaffer.
"The administration is actively obstructing accountability."
The rights group said that Obama’s stance greatly damages America’s credibility abroad.
"The lesson that this is giving to the rest of the world is that countries do not have to be accountable for their actions even when torture and abuse occurs," Christopher Anders, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel, said.
"That's going to make it much more difficult for the United States to push other countries on human rights issues across the board and it's going to make it much easier for other countries to shirk their own duties to bring accountability for their own actions in the past."
Source: IslamOnline
"Now the Obama administration is constructing a legal framework for impunity."
Hours after his inauguration, Obama has promised to close the US notorious detention center Guantanamo and secret CIA prisons.
He has also vowed to scrap all harsh interrogation techniques authorized by the Bush administration against terror suspects.
"But this administration is also shielding Bush administration officials from civil liability, criminal investigation and even public scrutiny for their role in authorizing torture," Jaffer said.
Last April, Obama said interrogators who had used waterboarding on terror suspects will not face prosecution.
He also released Bush-era memos specifying that the practice did not constitute torture.
The Bush administration has sanctioned the use of aggressive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding and sleeping deprivation, against suspects.
It was embroiled in shocking detainee abuse scandals in the notorious Guantanamo detention center, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Bush administration also authorized the CIA to operate awork of secret detention centers in different world countries and fly detainees to countries where they were tortured.
Damaging
ACLU, which has pursued nearly a dozen cases against the US government since 2003 related to prisoner abuse, dubbed Obama stance as “disappointing”.
"We're increasingly disappointed and alarmed by the current administration's stance on accountability for torture," said Jaffer.
"The administration is actively obstructing accountability."
The rights group said that Obama’s stance greatly damages America’s credibility abroad.
"The lesson that this is giving to the rest of the world is that countries do not have to be accountable for their actions even when torture and abuse occurs," Christopher Anders, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel, said.
"That's going to make it much more difficult for the United States to push other countries on human rights issues across the board and it's going to make it much easier for other countries to shirk their own duties to bring accountability for their own actions in the past."
Source: IslamOnline
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