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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Criminal Intel Exchange Conspiracy in Violence: torture legitimized


APT report: Beware Gift of Poison Fruit, Information sharing with States that torture
Excerpt, editing by Carolyn Bennett

In the post-2001 years, there has been a well-documented expansion of cooperation between intelligence and security agencies. In the endless ‘war on terror’, agencies have justified a huge amount of information sharing and use of information in circumstances where individuals likely have obtained the information by torture.

Agencies have shared information with international partners in circumstances that have led to torture of people held overseas.

The Association for the Prevention of torture has released its latest report on the subject. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the APT is a leading organization in the field of preventing torture and other ill treatment and offers its expertise and advice to international organizations, governments, human rights institutions and other actors. The nonprofit has played a key role in establishing international and regional standards and mechanisms to prevent torture, among them the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture. These are edited excerpts from its “Beware the Gift of Poison Fruit: Sharing information with States that torture” report.

“‘Information’ or ‘intelligence’ is used by a variety of executive actors for a number of purposes. It may be used to establish a basis for criminal investigation, justify administrative detention, influence immigration decisions or sanctions, drive government policy, or direct military or intelligence actions overseas. The variety of uses for information or intelligence leads to some serious questions about the reliability of the underlying information, and the manner in which it is collected, shared and used.

“Over the last ten years in the aggressive war against terrorism, intelligence and security agencies have been under extreme pressure to obtain answers and information. As a result, if they received the information they needed from foreign agencies, there has been a tendency not to raise concerns or delve too deeply into the source or its reliability. Inevitably, such practices led to some of the tragic abuses that have been widely reported. …”
 
Rights of Human Beings as Human Being Breached

“The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) has documented several cases of torture in Europe as part of their ’10 years after 9/11 publication series’.

“They note that Murat Kurnaz, Mohammed Zammer, and Khaled El Masri were all tortured by or at the behest of American (U.S.) agents and that German agencies obtained information during interviews by the German Federal Intelligence Service, the BND, with each of the men; in each case, information was collected, received and shared between the BND and American agents. A parliamentary commission of inquiry established to investigate Germany’s secret cooperation with the USA and other states in countering international terrorism in 2006 was unable to conclude to what extent information passed by the German BND was responsible for the treatment of the men.” The inquiry “did (however) consider that the intelligence shared was not checked for reliability prior to its transfer, and that information shared with the United States led directly to the arrest of at least one of the men, Khaled El Masri.

‘El Masri’s case is one of the best documented extraordinary renditions by the CIA to date. In 2012, the European Court of Human Rights determined El Masri had been tortured and that Macedonia was responsible both for abusing him while in their custody and for the abuse he received in Afghanistan at the hands of the Americans.’

Despite abuses and errors, “The war on terror continues to serve as a justification for the indiscriminate exchange of large amounts of highly sensitive information; and those providing the information have no overview of who it is that receives the information and to what uses or misuses this information is put.”

Right of Human beings to unbiased rule of law Breached

“Torture,” the APT report continues, “is an abhorrent practice and absolutely prohibited.” International treaties, customary international law, and constitutional guarantees of almost every State prohibit torture. “Yet despite its blatant illegality, torture continues to be practiced in States around the world.

“In the years since the terrorist attacks in 2001, intelligence cooperation between States has expanded significantly. Police, security and intelligence agencies ( viz., executive agencies) in several States have demonstrated a willingness to rely on information obtained through torture, and have shared information that later was used to abuse detainees overseas. Such cooperation, particularly among States that systematically use torture, leaves executive agencies and their agents vulnerable to allegations of complicity. In some cases, executive agencies have appeared actively to participate in torture, in ways that extend beyond complicity into direct perpetration of the abuse. …”

Crime disguised as crime stopper
Torture-tainted information perpetuating torture

“Using the fruits of torture encourages it, and gives torture an ill-deserved credibility. Accepting, using, and placing value on such intelligence ‘legitimizes’ the torture used for its collection. It is hypocritical of States to condemn torture committed by others while accepting its products.…By encouraging torture, agencies create a market where States that torture are rewarded for their trade.

“Torture-tainted information is inherently unreliable. Pain and suffering caused to victims destroys their will, causing them to say anything to end the pain.… Using torture-tainted information which has a high risk of unreliability is contrary to the interests of police, security and intelligence agencies, who require accurate information in order to operate effectively.”

Tainted Intel
Counterproductive conspiracy in crime 

Waste: “Torture necessarily generates false positives, as interrogators only accept information they want to hear. Based on unreliable information obtained by torture, investigations are diverted and more information is sought, again repeating the cycle of torture. Such tactics wastes time and diverts attention from proper investigations and real threats.”

Immorality/criminality: Torture, use of torture-tainted information and perpetuation of torture are immoral and illegal acts. “In all stages of the intelligence cycle, ethical questions must be carefully balanced against the national requirements of intelligence, security, and police services.… Torture is an international crime, punishable in any State; and where action by an executive agent constitutes torture, either by direct perpetration or some form of complicity, every State has a duty to prosecute the crime.”
  
Prohibition absolute: Principles enforced, Breaches prosecuted

“The absolute prohibition against torture ‘entails a continuum of obligations – not to torture, not to acquiesce in torture, and not to validate the results of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment’.…”

“State actors who commit violations of the UN Convention against Torture, or in the absence of treaty ratification, violate the comparable customary standards, commit an internationally wrongful act resulting in State responsibility. As well as direct commission of internationally wrongful acts, the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts adopted by the International Law Commission (ILC) provide for forms of commission by complicity.

The Draft Articles, which were intended to codify existing customary rules, additionally require that no State should provide aid or assistance to an internationally wrongful act (articles 16–18) and should not recognize as lawful a situation created by a serious breach and to cooperate to bring the breach to an end (articles 40–41).  

In supplementing the absolute prohibition provided in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, various treaties, and in customary international law, articles 1 and 4 of the UNCAT (the UN Convention against Torture) provide that a breach of the obligation is possible both by direct participation and complicity.

APT’s report concludes

“Where there are serious breaches, gross or systematic violations of peremptory norms of international law, such as the prohibition against torture, the special regime of rules described in Draft Article 41 comes into effect. Breaches of such rules immediately attach additional consequences, not only for the responsible State, but also for all other States. 

“All States must cooperate to end the breach and not recognize it as lawful, nor render aid or assistance to maintain the situation.”


Sources and notes

“Beware The Gift Of Poison Fruit: Sharing information with States that torture” Report, http://www.apt.ch/content/files_res/beware-the-gift-of-poison-fruit-en.pdf

The report author and publisher the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) holds to a vision of a world free from torture, a world where respect of all people’s rights and dignity is the norm.

Founded in 1977 by Swiss banker and lawyer Jean-Jacques Gautier, the APT is Geneva-based independent non-governmental organization that works throughout the world in preventing torture and other ill-treatment. The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) is a leading organization in the field of preventing torture and other ill treatment and offers its expertise and advice to international organizations, governments, human rights institutions and other actors. The APT has played a key role in establishing international and regional standards and mechanisms to prevent torture, among them the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture. Report Copyright © 2012, Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT). All rights reserved. Materials contained in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted, provided credit is given to the source. Requests for permission to reproduce or translate the publication should be addressed to the APT. ISBN 978-2-940337-65-1

Also

“Experts consider the use of torture-tainted information,” November 21, 2013, http://www.apt.ch/en/news_on_prevention/experts-consider-the-use-of-torture-tainted-information/#.Uv3g9V7zTyA

On November 4, the APT hosted an experts meeting with the Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez and other distinguished experts from a variety of disciplines. They considered legal standards and practical challenges in the use of torture-tainted information; a potential gap in the absolute prohibition on torture – how executive agencies collect, use and share information obtained by torture; and whether further guidance would be appropriate.


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