Friday, April 17, 2009

Cage Prisoners and Former Detainee Statement on the Secret Memos, etc.

PRESS RELEASE

17th April 2009

Cageprisoners Welcomes Release of 'Torture’ Memos, Condemns Immunity For Torture

Cageprisoners welcomes the move by US President Barack Hussein Obama to publish secret memos which detail the Bush administration’s legal justifications for torture. The release of the memos only serves to cement what was already known through the extensive testimonies of former detainees who were placed through the processes described in the memos.

Despite the move brought by the new US administration, Cageprisoners is deeply disappointed that no prosecutions will take place over the abuse of detainees. We urge the US government to investigate the line of authority that allowed for such policies to exist and to prosecute those individuals who legally sanctioned the abuse.

Spokesman for Cageprisoners, Moazzam Begg, said of the publication,

“The decision not to prosecute torturers is not only disappointing but it is the projection of illegality which most people would have thought the US administration would have recognised. The lessons from Nuremberg clearly have not been applied and, whilst the belated admission that the previous US administration sanctioned and practiced torture is welcome, prosecuting those responsible is an international obligation that remains unfulfilled.”

Cageprisoners is a human rights organisation that exists to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror. We aim to give a voice to the voiceless.

Media

Contact: Asim Qureshi
Email: contact@cageprisoners.com
Number: 004! 4 (0) 7973264197

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