CAIRO, May 3, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Amnesty International on Wednesday, May 3, accused the US of undermining the framework of international human rights law by officially sanctioning procedures leading to torture of detainees both in the US and in US-run detention sites around the world.

"The US government is not only failing to take steps to eradicate torture, it is actually creating a climate in which torture and other ill-treatment can flourish -- including by trying to narrow the definition of torture," said Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director Of Amnesty International USA.

"Although the US government continues to assert its condemnation of torture and ill-treatment, these statements contradict what is happening in practice," he asserted.

The report has been sent to the UN Committee against Torture to examine the US compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The committee, whose experts carry out periodic reviews of countries signatory to the convention, is scheduled to begin consideration of the US on Friday.

The last US review was in 2000.

The 47-page report said that torture has been "widespread" in the US-run detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and elsewhere.

"Evidence continues to emerge of widespread torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees held in US custody," it said.

It reviewed cases where detainees held in US custody in Afghanistan and Iraq have died under torture.

According to the report, no US agent has been prosecuted for torture or war crimes.

"The heaviest sentence imposed on anyone to date for a torture-related death while in US custody is five months -- the same sentence that you might receive in the US for stealing a bicycle.

"In this case, the five-month sentence was for assaulting a 22-year-old taxi-driver who was hooded and chained to a ceiling while being kicked and beaten until he died," said Goering.

In February, an Australian television station broadcast new images of abuses of Iraqi prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

The latest grainy, still photographs and video images showed prisoners, some bleeding or hooded, bound to beds and doors, sometimes with a smiling American guard beside them.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) branded the horrific images as a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

The report describes how measures taken by the US in response to torture of detainees held in US military custody under the so-called war on terror have been far from adequate.

"While the government continues to try to claim that the abuse of detainees in US custody was mainly due to a few 'aberrant' soldiers, there is clear evidence to the contrary," said Javier Zuniga, Amnesty International's Americas Program Director.

"Most of the torture and ill-treatment stemmed directly from officially sanctioned procedures and policies -- including interrogation techniques approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld," he averred.

Several US dailies revealed that Rumsfeld and former top US commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez gave free reign to US officers in charge of Abu Ghraib to adopt various torture and abuse tactics used at the notorious Guantanamo detention camp.

"The US has long taken a selective approach to international standards, but in recent years, the US government has taken unprecedented steps to disregard its obligations under international treaties," said Zuniga.

"This threatens to undermine the whole framework of international human rights law -- including the consensus on the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."