US VIOLATES GENEVA
CONVENTIONS ON EX-GITMO PRISONERS: LAWYER
Press TV. Nov-Sun 23-2014
A human rights lawyer says
Washington is violating the Geneva Conventions of 1949 in the case of former
Guantanamo Bay, adding that the victims have a right to bring lawsuits in US
courts.
Alfred Lambremont Webre, a Vancouver-based lawyer, made the
remarks in an interview with Press TV on Sunday, commenting on a news piece
that five ex-Guantanamo prisoners are seeking damages from the US government
for years of sexual, mental and physical abuse at the US prison.
“The Justice Department and the prosecutors in this case are
so far denying what the absolute law is. The US signed the Geneva Conventions
in 1949. Under Article 49 of Convention Number One, these former prisoners may
bring lawsuits in US courts because it’s US courts that are designated by the
conventions, by Article 49 of Convention One, to deal with these issues,” Webre
said.
“Under Convention Three, no party to the conventions, such
as the US, may use torture against prisoners and must afford them proper and
humane treatment. The allegations by the prisoners constitute torture,” he
added.
On Friday, former Guantanamo detainees, who are from Turkey,
Uzbekistan and Algeria, filed the complaints in a US appeals court, alleging
that they were subjected to forced nudity, sexual harassment and physical
beatings, first in Afghanistan and then at Guantanamo.
In response, the US government said in a statement that the
claims do not come under US or international law because the former inmates are
not American citizens."Plaintiffs have no constitutional rights as they
are non-resident aliens located outside United States sovereign territory,"
the statement said.
Webre, who is also a former war crimes judge, said the men
“have an absolute right under Article 49 of Convention One of the Geneva
Conventions to bring this action in US courts because that is a treaty signed
by the US, and that designates US courts as the courts in which prisoners who
were maltreated under Convention One and Convention Three of the Geneva
Conventions can bring lawsuits. That’s exactly what the 1949 Geneva Conventions
contemplate.”
“So, this is a legal fraud attempted to be perpetrated by
the US prosecutors in this case,” Webre noted.
GJH/DDB
GJH/DDB
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