WASHINGTON: US companies are exporting millions of dollars worth of equipment known to be used for torture, including selling devices to 12 countries where the State Department says the use of torture is “persistent”, according to a new report by the Amnesty International.
In doing so the administration of US President George W. Bush, which approves the sales, is violating the spirit of its own export policy, adds the report, released here on Dec 2.
In 2002, US exports of electro-shock weapons and restraints that can be used for torture amounted to 14.7 million dollars and 4.4 million dollars respectively, adds the 85-page report, ‘The Pain Merchants’.
“Although torture is endemic in Saudi Arabia, Smith & Wesson had no qualms about exporting approximately 10,000 leg-irons to Riyadh, and, apparently sharing this lack of concern, the Bush administration approved the sale,” said William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty’s US branch, AIUSA.
“For decades, human rights groups and the US State Department have documented Saudi Arabia’s cruel use of leg-irons and shackles to inflict torture and force confessions,” Schulz added in a statement.
“With this shameful shipment, we can expect the torture of religious minorities and peaceful protestors to continue for years to come.”
The United States is not the only exporter by any means of such equipment, which is “less than lethal” but can inflict severe pain amounting to torture when used improperly, says Amnesty.
Worldwide, some 856 companies in 47 countries either make or market such devices.
“Just because security equipment may be described as ‘less than lethal’ does not mean it cannot be abused, nor that it cannot injure or kill,” said Brian Wood, Amnesty’s expert on crime- control devices.
“We are extremely concerned that in many countries devices are being authorized for use on the population without sufficient investigation of their effects on human rights.”
In recent years, the US government has taken steps, most importantly adopting an export policy that requires licences in order to sell or ship electro-shock equipment to all countries except Canada, to reduce the likelihood that devices made here will be sent to countries where they are used to torture or otherwise inflict harm.
Similarly, the European Commission (EC) has drafted regulations that would ban the export from member states of equipment whose primary practical purpose is torture, such as leg irons and stun belts, and would impose tight restrictions on the export of equipment that might have a legitimate policing purpose but that can be used for torture, such as electro-shock stun weapons and tear gas.
But the EC’s policy has yet to be adopted, while US licence requirements are not being seriously enforced, according to the AIUSA. It noted that in 2001, the government approved three sales of electro-shock devices to Turkey, despite the State Department’s finding that such weapons were widely used for torture there.
In one 2002 case, a 17-year-old schoolgirl who was detained for distributing leaflets calling for the legalization of Kurdish education was stripped, threatened with rape and tortured with electric shocks to her feet, legs and stomach, says Amnesty.
“The US needs to completely close the loopholes that have allowed the re-supply of this technology to countries that torture,” said Maureen Greenwood, AIUSA’s advocacy director in Europe, in the report.
She noted that Representatives Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde are currently working on legislation that places restrictions on crime-control exports to foreign governments known to use torture.
Lantos and Hyde are proposing to ban outright the export of all electro-shock devices to those countries.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.