MAY 09, 11:22 EDT
Amnesty International Criticizes US
GENEVA (AP) — Amnesty International criticized the United States
on Tuesday for increasingly brutal police measures against crime
suspects, saying the use of pepper spray and stunning devices as
punishment constitute torture.
The London-based human rights group presented a report to the
U.N. Committee Against Torture, which meets Wednesday to consider
the U.S. record for the first time since Washington ratified a
convention outlawing torture in 1994.
Since then, the ``increasingly punitive approach toward
offenders (in the United States) has continued to lead to
practices which facilitate torture or other forms of
ill-treatment,'' Amnesty said. U.S. officials in Geneva for the
session had no immediate comment.
In the 45-page report, the London-based human rights group cited
long-term isolation for prisoners and incarceration of asylum
seekers in ``cruel and degrading conditions.'' It said the rising
prison population contributed to widespread ill-treatment of
inmates and that police brutality is particularly directed at
racial and ethnic minorities.
Amnesty pointed to the use of pepper spray, tear gas and
electric-shock devices and noted in particular the use of pepper
spray against demonstrators protesting at meetings of the World
Trade Organization and other events in recent months.
It said there are reports of police officers dousing suspects
with spray as a form of ``street justice'' after they had already
been restrained. At the WTO protests in Seattle in November and
December, protesters accused police of swabbing pepper gel or
foam into their eyes while they were in custody, the report said.
Amnesty also cited the use of stun belts, which are placed
around a prisoner's waist and can apply shocks. It said 100 U.S.
jurisdictions have acquired stun belts, citing one example where
a prisoner was given an electric shock in open court by order of
the judge.
``As with other international human rights treaties, the United
States' respect for the Convention against Torture is only
halfhearted when applied to itself,'' it said.
In its report to the committee made public last year, the United
States said cases of torture are rare but conceded that ``abuses
occur despite the best precautions and the strictest
prohibitions.''
It assured the panel that torture is a criminal offense in the
United States and that perpetrators are prosecuted and victims
entitled to compensation. The federal government also may take
civil action against police misconduct under a 1994 law.
``Every unit of government at every level within the United
States is committed, by law as well as by policy, to the
protection of the individual's life, liberty and physical
integrity,'' the report said. acas
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