Bush Assures U.N. Rights Boss U.S. Not Using Torture

Fri March 7, 2003 09:11 AM ET

GENEVA (Reuters) - President Bush has assured the U.N. human rights chief that U.S. officials are not using torture in interrogating suspects detained in the war on terror, a U.N. spokesman said Friday. Bush and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello, who met for the first time Wednesday in Washington, also discussed Iraq and the Middle East.

The 30-minute talks came a day after Vieira de Mello said in a report the fight against international terrorism must stay within the law. The United States is holding hundreds of alleged Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda fighters suspected of links to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

"The high commissioner raised the issue of detainees in the ongoing fight against terrorism. He was assured by President Bush, in the strongest terms, that the United States has not and will not use torture in interrogating prisoners," U.N. spokesman Jose Luis Diaz told a news briefing.

Groups, including Amnesty International, have expressed alarm at reports of the techniques the United States may be using in the interrogation of suspects. The Washington Post has reported that U.S. interrogators use "stress and duress" methods.

Continued.

Amnesty has said the United States should not use torture to extract information from suspected Sept. 11 attack mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Mohammed, a leading al Qaeda figure described by Washington as the biggest catch yet in the war on terror, was arrested in Pakistan last weekend and U.S. officials said they were racing against the clock to get information from him to foil any plots against American targets.

They also wanted information to help in tracking down al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, thought to be in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

Vieira de Mello paid an official visit to Pakistan last week, where he visited some families of alleged Taliban and al Qaeda members who are in U.S. custody.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has written to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urging him to release Taliban fighters or any civilian prisoners "with no meaningful connection to al Qaeda" among an estimated 650 people held at a U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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printed from Bush Assures U.N. Rights Boss U.S. Not Using Torture on 2004-05-25 22:37:04