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A detainee led by his U.S. captors in Guantanamo, Cuba
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NEW
YORK, September 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The moves
taken by the U.S. authorities after September11 attacks are causing
serious concerns among civil libertarians. Whatever successes it might
claim, the nearly year-old U.S.-led war on terrorism has produced
significant collateral damage in eroding civil liberties worldwide,
human rights groups say, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
They
say governments, often taking their cue from U.S. practices after
September 11, have used the war to justify abuses ranging from the
detention of suspects without charge to crackdowns on dissent and
immigration.
"Virtually
every dictator around the world has tried to jump on the bandwagon
with varying degrees of success," said Tom Malinowksi, advocacy
director for Human Rights Watch in Washington, AFP reported.
Most
worrying to rights activists is the trend in the United States, with
up to 1,200 non-Americans rousted since last year's attacks -- on top
of some 598 prisoners held in Cuba -- and authorities looking at
military trials.
Barely
weeks after the attacks, the Bush administration began to implement
emergency measures to change the legal system.
Attorney
General John Ashcroft promised to use "every available
statute" to hunt down "the terrorists among us."
The
changes have affected the judicial system, the rights of federal
investigators, as well as regulations regarding immigration.
A
few weeks after the attacks, Congress overwhelmingly adopted the
Patriot Act, which, according to President George W. Bush, was
designed "to punish terrorists before they strike ... while
protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans."
But
the promise to defend people's rights did not reassure defenders of
individual freedoms.
Particularly
given the fact that these regulations, granting authorities
exceptional rights to search, detain and question individuals as well
as monitor their activities without sanction from a judge, remain in
force.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation saw its powers increased, particularly
in monitoring suspects and listening in to their conversations,
including those with lawyers.
A
data bank with some 100,000 names has been set up. Stored there is
information on immigrants, potential terrorists and foreign students.
All
of that happened without triggering massive protests.
"There
are growing voices of concern in the media, in the general public, in
the Congress about the way in which some of these policies are being
pursued by the Bush administration and are affecting the basic
constitutional rights of individuals," said Wendy Patten of Human
Rights Watch (HRW).
Last
month, HRW denounced some of the practices of U.S. law enforcement,
such as arbitrary detentions, violations of procedural rules and
secret arrests.
"We
are talking about very important rights that were abused in pursuit of
the investigation of the events of September 11," said Patten.
Most
of the 1,200 arrested people, according to HRW, were either held in
secret, without being able to meet with lawyers, or expelled.
More
than 8,000 people, mostly Muslims, have been questioned by the FBI
over the past year, without any charges but being Muslims.
Meanwhile,
members of Congress have started expressing doubts about the real
intentions of the very conservative attorney general.
One
of them in New York ruled that proceedings leading to the expulsion of
an undesirable immigrant could not be held in secret. Another judge
from Washington said the identities of detained immigrants had to be
made public.
"Secrets
arrests are a concept odious to a democratic society," wrote this
judge, Gladys Kessler.
Such
measures from a country regarded as a paragon of freedom send the
wrong signal to less-democratic regimes and give them a freer hand to
deal harshly with their own people, rights watchdogs say.
Moreover,
they fear, the United States has been turning a blind eye to rights
transgressions in various parts of the world in return for support in
its battle against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.
Whether
they have been adopting new laws or stepping up enforcement of old
ones, countries have not surprisingly taken to cloaking their actions
in the banner of anti-terrorism.
In
Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe branded six journalists working for
foreign-based media as "terrorists." Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon likes to refer to the Palestinian president Yasser
Arafat as "our bin Laden" to falsely justify his attacks and
give the Americans the sense that they are facing the same enemy, that
is terrorism.
Even
countries such as Britain, with a cherished democratic tradition, got
in hot water with a law allowing foreign terror suspects to be
detained without charge that was ruled discriminatory by a tribunal,
AFP added.
"We
do not see such a state of imminent and extreme national emergency as
to justify locking people up without charge or trial, not for anything
they have done but for something someone thinks they might do,"
said John Wadham, head of the British rights group Liberty.
Rights
advocates in Pakistan, which has allied itself firmly with the United
States, are alarmed at sweeping arrests of suspected people without
proof or warrants, and their imprisonment without charges.
Afrasiab
Khattak, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said a
major concern was the transfer of 400-500 mainly Arab foreigners to
the custody of the United States and other countries.
"All
were handed to the U.S. without legal process. There has not been a
single case where the due process of courts has been observed,"
Khattak said, AFP reported.
Meanwhile,
European Union governments are secretly drawing up a treaty with the
United States on issues ranging from extradition to undercover police
operations in a move which has huge implications for individual rights
and liberties, the British based daily The Guardian reported.
Shortly
after the September 11 attacks on the U.S. last year, the EU suggested
negotiating an agreement with Washington on joint measures to combat
terrorism.
The
U.S. said the agreement should go beyond the fight against terrorism
and cover what it called general "criminal matters", the
daily added.
Documents
leaked to Statewatch, an independent group monitoring threats to civil
liberties in the EU, show the planned treaty will include joint police
operations, intercepting communications and the search and seizure of
bank accounts.
They
also show that the U.S. wants to make it easier for European
governments to extradite EU and non-EU citizens by making it harder
for individuals to plead political immunity and by fast-tracking
judicial procedures, the paper said.
EU
governments have said they are prepared to adopt what they call a
"modern approach" to the issue, the documents show. The
implication is that they are willing to abandon existing obstacles to
extradition.
The
documents also show that, under the heading "guarantees and
safeguards", the EU's negotiating position with the U.S. makes no
mention of principles enshrined in the European human rights
convention, including the right to a fair trial and to privacy, or
traditional protection against double jeopardy.
The
U.S. Attorney-General, John Ashworth, is to discuss the proposed
treaty - drawn up without reference to national parliaments or the
European parliament - at a meeting of EU home affairs and justice
ministers in Copenhagen on September 13.
On
the other hand, in a poll released Wednesday, September 4, 2002, a
majority of Europeans believe that U.S. foreign policy is partly to
blame for last year's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC,
AFP said.
All told, 55% of Europeans believe the attacks by al-Qaeda group on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were a product of U.S. policy
overseas to some degree, AFP reported.
And many Europeans are still critical of President George W. Bush's
handling of foreign policy issues, according to Worldviews 2002, a
survey of more than 9,000 Europeans and Americans, the AFP added.
Only
a fifth of the respondents thought Bush was doing a good job handling
the Arab-Israeli conflict and/or the standoff with Iraq over weapons
inspections, when they were canvassed in June and July this year, for
example.
