FBI emails reveal Guantanamo abuse

A series of FBI memos has been released, detailing the abuse of detainees at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In memos over a two year period FBI agents said they witnessed the use of torture techniques, which included the use of dogs, prisoners being shackled to the floor in foetal positions for up to 24 hours, left without food and water, left to defecate upon themselves.

The memos also show that personnel at Guantanamo believed they had authority for these methods from senior pentagon officials.

It is believed the memo was referring to an order signed by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Whitehouse spokesman Scott McLellan says the President expects a full investigation.

The emails also claim that interrogators posed as FBI agents to avoid being traced.

The Adelaide-based lawyer representing David Hicks says the FBI emails reflect the claims of torture made by his client.

Stephen Kenny says the Australian Government must pressure the US to have a full inquiry, independent of the Pentagon.

"There is no other option, the amount of evidence on the torture and abuse of prisoners worldwide by the Americans is completely plain," he said.

"They so far have prosecuted a number of lower level ranks but the reality is that this has been systematic abuse that has gone on and has been known about at the highest level."

By Just Us 22 December 04

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Goulburn Prison

NSW: Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on Justice Minister John Hatzistergos to bring Goulburn Jail's Maximum Security Wing into line with United Nations standards, after a prison inmate's covert survey of his fellow inmates revealed problems with rehabilitation programs and basic amenities.

Goulburn Jail inmate Christopher Binse secretly issued a questionnaire to more than 140 of his fellow inmates in C-Wing, and the results paint a disturbing picture," said Ms Rhiannon.

The survey showed that although most inmates were very keen to undertake rehabilitation and education programs, they were overwhelmingly not getting the services they needed.

Prisoners are punished by long-term deprivation of liberty. The role of the prison is not to inflict boot-camp hardship on prisoners, but to ensure they don't re-offend when released.

Rehabilitation is crucial to breaking the cycle of criminality. Yet the prisoners' own testimony reveals that not enough is being done to ensure they can integrate back into society.

The survey also found that the clothes provided to prisoners were inadequate in the harsh Goulburn winter, causing many inmates to fall ill.

This is not a luxury, it's a question of basic standards. If minimum standards are not met, the jail runs the risk of simply hardening criminals, rather than solving any behavioural and social problems they have which may cause recidivism.

The inadequate rehabilitation programs and clothing breach the UN standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners. So too does the ethnic segregation practised at the jail.

I congratulate Mr Binse on his survey, and on his ability to overcome conditions at Goulburn and seek to break his own cycle of criminality. I hope his efforts to quantify conditions at Goulburn Jail are heeded by the Justice Minister," Ms Rhiannon said.

Also available: Details on the survey, the UN rules, a copy of Lee's speech to Parliament.

Hans van Leeuwen
Media Adviser, Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon
Tel: (61 2) 9230 3551
Fax: (61 2) 9230 3550
Mob: 0425 310 562
hans.vanleeuwen@parliament.nsw.gov.

By The Greens posted 17 December 04

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He says it is no coincidence that the state has a high number of what he calls strange and bizarre murders.

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The church wants poverty on national agenda. The Uniting Church is today releasing five policy papers in an effort to get the issue of poverty on the national political agenda.

A director of UnitingCare, Lin Hatfield-Dodds, says the papers are based on feedback from the church's national network of 400 community service agencies around Australia.

Ms Hatfield-Dodds says hopefully all Australians, including politicians, will listen.

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