WASHINGTON - The use of torture to extract evidence from detainees held at the US military jail in Guantanamo Bay has tarnished the image of the US legal system and alienated allies in the war on terror, a human rights group said Monday.
"The use of evidence tainted by torture and other inhuman treatment is pervasive and systematic in the cases of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, and has already infected legal judgments made there," Human Rights First said in a report entitled "Tortured Justice."
By hearing testimony extracted under torture when trying Guantanamo detainees, the United States is "tainting the legitimacy of the proceedings, both at home and in the eyes of the international community; alienating US allies and empowering terrorists.
"The focus of the proceedings has been shifted from the suspected criminal conduct of the accused to the abusive conduct of their interrogators," said the report, released two days after US President George W. Bush vetoed legislation on intelligence funding because it urged that harsh interrogation methods be outlawed.
The US Congress in 2006 passed the Military Commissions Act which set up special tribunals to try suspects held at Guantanamo.
The act contained provisions that "for the first time in American history, authorized the admission of coerced confessions as evidence during military commission trials," the report said.
"Tortured Justice" cites the cases of six Guantanamo detainees who were allegedly abused by US government interrogators.
Among techniques allegedly used on the men were sleep deprivation, sexual and other physical humiliation, the report said.
Mohammed al-Qahtani, the so-called 20th hijacker on September 11, 2001, was allegedly strip-searched, humiliated by being forced to stand nude in front of a female interrogator, intimidated by a dog and reportedly given enemas, the report said.
Torture and other inhuman treatment were used by US interrogators to garner evidence despite being banned under US and international law, the report said.
"The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that due process prohibits the governments use of involuntary statements extracted through psychological pressure, physical intimidation, torture or other mistreatment," it said.
The use of coerced testimony, which scientific studies have shown, and former US interrogators have said, do not produce useful information, is also prohibited under US military law and international law, the report said.
"As the military commission proceedings gather momentum in 2008, the American public and the international community will be watching," Human Rights First says.
kdz/jkb
03/10/2008 16:44 GMT