Author
amoshaun
Maybe include a mention of the use of tazers in american jails (reportedly resulting in at least one death and permanent physical damage.
AP Top News
US Said To Export Torture Weapons
by PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dozens of U.S. companies sell weapons and other
equipment used overseas for torture, Amnesty International said Monday,
calling for a ban on the sales.
The items include high-tech electroshock weapons, leg irons and serrated
thumb cuffs designed to tear flesh if a detainee tries to get free, said a report
by the U.S. chapter of the London-based human rights group.
''No U.S. company should profit from torture,'' said William F. Schulz, head
of the chapter.
''The global manufacture, marketing and export of the equipment for torture
is a moneymaking business that turns a blind eye to the suffering it causes,''
said the report, ''Stopping the Torture Trade.''
Although it is illegal to own some of the equipment in the United States,
Amnesty International said the Commerce Department has granted export
licenses for sales valued at $97 million since 1997 under the category of
''crime control equipment.'' It said some 80 American companies were
involved in the manufacture, marketing and export of the items.
An analysis of Commerce data shows Saudi Arabia, Russia, Taiwan, Israel
and Egypt as the major recipients of the U.S. equipment, Amnesty said. The
report said the group has documented that torturers in those countries use
such technology.
The equipment could also be used for legitimate law enforcement reasons,
including to restrain or subdue detainees. But Amnesty spokesman Alistair
Hodgett said the group still believes some of them -- such as the flesh-tearing
thumb cuffs and a belt that emits electric shocks -- are ''inherently cruel'' and
their export thus should be banned outright. Other devices have not been
tested for their medical effects, and their export should be suspended, he
said.
Amnesty released the study as the State Department was issuing its annual
report on human rights around the world.
''It is unconscionable that while the U.S. State Department promotes human
rights, the U.S. Department of Commerce has approved export licenses to
countries that our own government documents as committing torture,'' Schulz
said in a statement.
Hodgett said there are relatively few manufacturers of the equipment, but
they sell to an increasing number of suppliers and marketers.
''Once they roll off the production line there's no followup to show where
these things end up,'' he said in an interview.
''Despite improved government regulation of exports, weapons are being sold
and resold into the hands of torturers,'' Schulz said.
''In the absence of stringent worldwide controls to prevent this ..., export
should be immediately halted,'' the Amnesty International report said.
The report is part of a yearlong campaign by the human rights group to
document torture around the world. It also has launched an Internet program
in which supporters can send messages quickly to officials where torture is
taking place and demand an immediate end to the abuse.
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On the Net: Amnesty International USA: www.amnestyusa.org