14 Octubre 2011
del Sitio Web RedVoltaire

Versión Ingles
 

La organización no gubernamental Amnistía Internacional (AI) [después de verse implicada en la mentira de la joven mujer despellejada viva en Siria] exigió al Gobierno de Canadá que arreste al ex presidente de EE.UU. George W. Bush acusándolo por torturas.
 

 

La ONG de derechos humanos pidió a las autoridades canadienses que detengan y procesen - o extraditen - al ex mandatario que fue implicado en delitos de tortura y a quien consideran penalmente responsable de violaciones de derechos humanos.

 

AI realizó esta llamada con motivo de la visita de Bush a Canadá prevista para próximo el 20 de octubre.

“Canadá está obligada por las normas internacionales a detener y procesar al ex presidente Bush por su responsabilidad en torturas y otros delitos de derecho internacional”, afirmó Susan Lee, directora del programa de Amnistía Internacional para América.

 

“Es un momento clave para que este país demuestre su disposición a acatar sus compromisos en materia de derechos humanos”, manifestó.

 

 

 

Según el memorando de la AI, las violaciones referidas se cometieron entre 2002 y 2009 como parte del programa de detención secreta de la CIA, e incluyen torturas y otros tratos crueles.

Durante la presidencia Bush autorizó la aplicación de diversas “técnicas de interrogatorio” a personas recluidas, como obligarlos a permanecer durante horas en posturas dolorosas o privarlos del sueño.

 

Más tarde, él admitió haber autorizado el uso del simulacro de ahogamiento (waterboarding) contra varias personas cuyo sometimiento a este método de tortura se ha confirmado.

“Dado que hasta ahora las autoridades estadounidenses no han llevado al ex presidente Bush ante los tribunales, la comunidad internacional debe intervenir.

 

Si Canadá no toma medidas durante su visita, estará violando los términos de la Convención de la ONU contra la Tortura y demostrando desprecio por los derechos humanos fundamentales”, subrayó Amnistía Internacional.

 

 

 

Amnesty Calls on Canada to...

Arrest Bush

by Agence France-Presse

October 13, 2011

from CommonDreams Website

Spanish version

OTTAWA

Amnesty International called on Canadian authorities Wednesday to arrest and prosecute George W. Bush, saying the former US president authorized “torture” when he directed the US-led war on terror.
 

Former US president George W. Bush speaks at the ceremony

marking the opening of the Flight 93 National Memorial and the 10th anniversary

of the 9/11 attack in Shanksville, Pennsylvania September 10, 2011.

(Photo: Reuters File)

 

Bush is expected to attend an economic summit in Surrey in Canada’s westernmost British Columbia province on October 20.
 

In a memorandum submitted last month to Canada’s attorney general but only now released to the media, the London-based group charged that Bush has legal responsibility for a series of human rights violations.

“Canada is required by its international obligations to arrest and prosecute former president Bush given his responsibility for crimes under international law including torture,” Amnesty’s Susan Lee said in a statement.

“As the US authorities have, so far, failed to bring former president Bush to justice, the international community must step in. A failure by Canada to take action during his visit would violate the UN Convention Against Torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights,” Lee said.

 

 

 

 

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney blasted Amnesty for,

“cherry picking cases to publicize, based on ideology.”

“This kind of stunt helps explain why so many respected human rights advocates have abandoned Amnesty International,” he said.

Kenney said it will be up to Canadian border officials to decide independently whether to allow Bush into the country.

Bush canceled a visit to Switzerland in February, after facing similar public calls for his arrest.

Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International’s Canadian branch, told a press conference the rights group will pursue its case against the former US president with the governments of other countries he might visit.

“Torturers must face justice and their crimes are so egregious that the responsibility for ensuring justice is shared by all nations,” Neve said.

“Friend or foe, extraordinary or very ordinary times, most or least powerful nation, faced with concerns about terrorism or any other threat, torture must be stopped.

“Bringing to justice the people responsible for torture is central to that goal. It is the law… And no one, including the man who served as president of the world’s most powerful nation for eight years can be allowed to stand above that law.”

Amnesty, backed by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, claims Bush authorized the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and “waterboarding” on detainees held in secret by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) between 2002 and 2009.

The detention program included,

“torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (such as being forced to stay for hours in painful positions and sleep deprivation), and enforced disappearances,” it alleged.

Amnesty’s case, outlined in its 1,000-page memorandum, relies on the public record, US documents obtained through access to information requests, Bush’s own memoir and a Red Cross report critical of the US’s war on terror policies.

Amnesty cites several instances of alleged torture of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, by the US military.

The cases include that of Zayn al Abidin Muhammed Husayn (known as Abu Zubaydah) and '9/11 mastermind' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, both arrested in Pakistan.

 

The two men were waterboarded 266 times between them from 2002 to 2003, according to the CIA inspector general, cited by Amnesty.