Amnesty International Report 2003 - United States of America

Covering events from January - December 2002

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Head of state and government: George W. Bush
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: signed

More than 600 foreign nationals – most arrested during the military conflict in Afghanistan – were detained without charge or trial or access to counsel or family members in the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The USA refused to recognize them as prisoners of war or allow their status to be determined by a "competent tribunal" as required under the Geneva Conventions. There were concerns about the situation of others taken into US custody outside the USA, some of whom were held in undisclosed locations. Many of the 1,200 foreign nationals detained in the USA during investigations into the 11 September 2001 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center were also deprived of safeguards under international law, as were two US nationals held incommunicado in military custody in the USA as "enemy combatants". Death sentences continued to be imposed and carried out under state and federal law. There were reports of police brutality, deaths in custody and ill-treatment in prisons and jails.

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Background

The US-led international military action in Afghanistan, launched following the 11 September 2001 attacks, continued into 2002. Thousands were detained in the context of the conflict, with frequent transfers of prisoners between the US, Afghan and Pakistan authorities. While calling for those responsible for the 11 September attacks and other crimes to be brought to justice, AI and others criticized the US government for denying internationally recognized rights to people taken into custody in the context of its declared "war against terrorism" (see below).

Detentions outside the USA

During the year, starting in January, the USA transferred more than 600 foreign nationals to the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where they were held without charge or trial or access to the courts, lawyers or relatives. Although most were arrested during the armed conflict in Afghanistan, the USA refused to grant them prisoner of war status under the Geneva Conventions or to afford them other rights under international human rights law. Attempts to challenge the lawfulness of the detentions in US or other courts were unsuccessful, although several cases were pending at the end of the year. An urgent call by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to the US government to have the legal status of the detainees determined by a competent tribunal was ignored.

The conditions of the detainees' transfer to and detention in Guantánamo Bay gave cause for serious concern. During the 22-hour flights, the prisoners were handcuffed, shackled, made to wear mittens, surgical masks and ear muffs, and were effectively blindfolded by the use of taped-over ski goggles. They also had their beards and heads shaved. At first, the detainees were held in Camp X-Ray at the naval base, a temporary facility consisting of small wire-mesh cells, exposed to the elements, and lit up throughout the night by powerful arc lighting. Prisoners were made to wear shackles whenever they were taken out of their cells, and granted almost no out of cell exercise time.

A more permanent prison, Camp Delta, was constructed and began to house the detainees from April. The detainees continued to be held for up to 24 hours a day in cells smaller than those of Camp X-Ray. Some prisoners engaged in a hunger strike during the year, and there were also reports of several suicide attempts.

AI received no reply to its repeated requests to visit Guantánamo.

In December, AI wrote to the US government reiterating concerns raised in a Memorandum in April, and calling for the Guantánamo detainees to be repatriated or charged with recognizable offences and afforded their due process rights under international law.

A number of suspected members of al-Qa'ida reported to have been taken into US custody continued to be held in undisclosed locations. The US government failed to provide clarification on the whereabouts and legal status of those detained, or to provide them with their rights under international law, including the right to inform their families of their place of detention and the right of access to outside representatives. An unknown number of detainees originally in US custody were allegedly transferred to third countries, a situation which raised concern that the suspects might face torture during interrogation.

Two US nationals continued to be held in incommunicado detention without charge or trial as "enemy combatants" in military custody in the USA at the end of the year. Yaser Esam Hamdi reportedly surrendered to the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in late 2001 and was transferred to Virginia from Guantánamo Bay in April 2002. José Padilla was arrested at Chicago airport in May 2002 and was originally held on a material witness warrant – with access to an attorney – on suspicion of involvement in an alleged conspiracy to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" against a US target. He was transferred to US military custody on 9 June, without notice to his court-appointed attorney. On 4 December, a federal district judge issued a ruling stating that José Padilla could have access to his attorney under certain conditions. However, the terms of access had still not been agreed by the end of 2002.

Military commissions

In March, the Department of Defense released the operating procedures for the trial of non-US nationals by the military commissions established by presidential order in 2001. By the end of the year, no one had been named to appear before such commissions. AI believes that trials before such bodies, which would have the power to impose death sentences, would violate fundamental fair trial standards.

Abuses by US forces in Afghanistan and Yemen

There were allegations of ill-treatment of civilians during raids by US ground forces in Afghanistan. During a raid in Uruzgan province in January, US Special Forces killed at least 16 villagers, some of whose bodies were discovered with their hands tied behind their backs. Some 27 villagers taken into US custody during the raid were allegedly hooded, blindfolded, tied up and flown to the US base in Kandahar, where they were allegedly kicked, beaten and punched by US soldiers. A 17-year-old alleged that he was kept in solitary confinement in a shipping container for eight days. All the detainees were released two weeks later, after it had been determined that they were members of neither al-Qa'ida nor the Taleban. AI questioned the adequacy of the investigation into the allegations, but received no reply from the US authorities. Similar allegations of ill-treatment were made by a group of 31 people detained by US soldiers during a raid on a compound near Kandahar on 17 March.

Baryalai, an 18-year-old telephone operator arrested by US troops in Sharan, Paktika province, Afghanistan, in November, was reportedly made to kneel with his hands bound behind his back and a hood over his face for about six hours before being taken to an undisclosed location. After he had been held for two weeks, the US authorities acknowledged that he was being held in the US airbase at Bagram for investigation.

In December, the Washington Post newspaper alleged that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel were operating "stress and duress" techniques during interrogations of detainees at Bagram airbase. Alleged techniques included prolonged kneeling or standing, hooding, blindfolding, sleep deprivation and 24-hour lighting.

In November, six men, including a suspected leading member of al-Qa'ida, were killed in Yemen in what appeared to be extrajudicial executions when their car was struck by a missile launched by a Predator drone aircraft controlled by the CIA.

Detentions in the USA in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks

Some 1,200 foreign nationals – most of them Muslim men of Arab or South Asian origin – were arrested during investigations into the 11 September attacks. More than 700 were held for routine visa violations, many under a regulation allowing the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to hold individuals for an extended period without charge. Many were denied prompt access to attorneys and some remained in custody for months pending "clearance" by the government even after immigration judges had granted them bail or issued them with deportation or "voluntary departure" orders. There were also reports of ill-treatment of detainees, including verbal and physical abuse, prolonged solitary confinement, and heavy shackling of detainees during visits and court appearances.

There was continued concern at the secrecy surrounding the detentions. In August, a federal judge ordered the government to release the names and places of detention of all INS detainees held in the post-September 11 investigations, in a case brought by a consortium of human rights groups, including AI, under the Freedom of Information Act. The order was stayed pending an appeal by the government.

In October a federal appeals court ruled that the government had acted lawfully in ordering hundreds of deportation hearings to be held behind closed doors in so-called "special interest" cases. Legal challenges to this process continued.

In September the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights requested that the US government take urgent "precautionary measures" to "protect the fundamental rights of the 9/11 detainees ordered deported or granted voluntary departure".

An inquiry set up by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General into the treatment of the detainees had still not reported by the end of the year. Their probe included a review of conditions in two New Jersey jails, which an AI delegation had visited in February and reported on, and in the federal Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), New York, where more than 40 detainees were held in an isolation unit. The authorities rejected AI's request to visit the MDC.

By the end of the year most detainees arrested during the initial sweeps had been deported or released or were charged with crimes which were unrelated to 11 September or to "terrorism". The Justice Department reported in early December that only six of the 765 people detained on immigration charges in the above sweeps remained in custody and 500 had been deported; 134 others were arrested on federal criminal charges and 99 convicted. An earlier review by the Washington Post found that at least 44 people had been arrested and detained in the probes as "material witnesses" but no information was provided by the Justice Department on these cases. Some people were deported to countries, including Pakistan, Egypt and Yemen, where it was feared they were at risk of human rights abuses, including incommunicado detention and torture.

Human rights and immigrant groups expressed concern about the discriminatory nature of a new federal order requiring males aged 16 and over from designated Arab and Muslim countries and North Korea who did not have permanent US resident status to register with the INS to be interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed. Several hundred Middle Eastern men and boys who complied with the first round of registrations in December were detained for alleged visa irregularities and many were subjected to harsh treatment, including being placed in handcuffs and leg shackles and held in cold cells with inadequate clothing or blankets; some were reportedly moved around different facilities without an opportunity to contact lawyers or relatives. Although most were released after a few days, many faced deportation hearings, including people who reportedly had a claim to lawful status at the time of their arrest.

Ill-treatment and excessive use of force by law enforcement officials

There were reports of ill-treatment, deaths in custody and excessive use of force by police and prison officers. At least three people died after being struck by M26 Tasers: dart-firing, high-voltage stun guns deployed by a growing number of US police agencies. Although most such deaths have been attributed to other factors, there were concerns about the health risks associated with electro-shock weapons as well as their potential for abuse.

• Gordon Randall Jones, an unarmed man, died in July after he was struck 12 times with an M26 Taser by police in Orange County, Florida. The autopsy report listed the cause of death as "positional asphyxia, secondary to the application of restraints in the setting of acute cocaine intoxication".
• Chiquita Hammonds, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, was pepper-sprayed and struck with a Taser by police in Miramar, Florida, following a minor disturbance on a school bus. AI believes the use of chemical and electro-shock devices in this case constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
• There were calls for a civil rights investigation into an incident in November in which two 16-year-old Latino boys died after a Los Angeles police officer shot at their car, hitting them with bullets and causing the car to crash. Two other juveniles and a 20-year-old in the car were also injured. The police – who had earlier tried to question two youths who fled in a car – said the officer opened fire when the Latino boys' car accelerated towards him. However, relatives questioned the use of deadly force in such circumstances. The case was under police investigation at the end of the year.
• An unarmed mentally disturbed man died of asphyxiation after being physically restrained by police in Prince George's County, Maryland, in March. The report of a federal investigation into an alleged "pattern and practice" of brutality within the department was still pending at the end of the year.
• Chad Boggess died of injuries received after allegedly being beaten by guards in the Boyd County Detention Center, Kentucky, in March. A coroner found that he had died from asphyxiation due to the manner in which he was restrained and that "blunt force" injuries had contributed to his death. Three jailers were subsequently fired and one was charged with assault in the case.

Conditions in supermax prisons

Lawsuits filed by human rights groups led to improvements in two supermax prisons – high-security facilities where prisoners are housed for 23 or more hours a day in solitary confinement in conditions of reduced sensory stimulation. However, more than 70,000 prisoners continued to be housed in supermax units, where AI believes conditions can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

• In February, a federal district judge ruled that harsh conditions at Ohio State Penitentiary, a supermax prison designed to house some 500 inmates, imposed "atypical and significant hardship". The court also ruled that the procedure for assigning prisoners to the facility – which a lawsuit claimed was arbitrary – had "great potential for error". The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights. During earlier negotiations in the case, the authorities had agreed to remove seriously mentally ill prisoners from the facility and to make some other changes.
• In March, a lawsuit on conditions in Boscobel, Wisconsin's supermax prison, was settled. The settlement agreement included a ban on seriously mentally ill prisoners being housed in the facility; a modest improvement to exercise provision and rehabilitation programs; and a reduction in the use of restraints and electro-shock control devices, although these continued to be authorized. Some prisoners were also allowed face-to-face visits with their families; most inmates continued to receive family "visits" only through video.

Death penalty

In 2002, 69 men and two women were executed, bringing to 820 the total number of prisoners put to death since the US Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on executions in 1976. The USA continued to violate international standards in its use of the death penalty, including by executing people who were under 18 at the time of the crime and people who had received inadequate legal representation. On 20 June 2002, the US Supreme Court ruled that the execution of people with mental retardation violates the constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual punishments". The Court acknowledged that "within the world community" such executions were "overwhelmingly disapproved".

The moratorium on executions in Illinois, announced by the state Governor in January 2000 because of the number of wrongful convictions in capital cases, was still in force at the end of 2002. In May, the Governor of Maryland announced a moratorium on executions in his state pending the outcome of a study into racial and geographic disparities in its capital sentencing, which had not been published by the end of the year.

Executions continued elsewhere, with Texas carrying out 33 of the year's executions. Mississippi carried out its first execution since 1989. Executions also took place in 11 other states.

• In October, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights handed down its decision in the case of Michael Domingues, on death row in Nevada for a crime committed when he was 16 years old. The Commission concluded that the prohibition on the execution of those under 18 at the time of the crime was of a "sufficiently indelible nature to now constitute a norm of jus cogens", binding on all states and that "[t]he norm cannot be validly derogated from, whether by treaty or by the objection of a state, persistent or otherwise".
• Napoleon Beazley, T.J. Jones, and Toronto Patterson were executed in Texas on 28 May, 9 August and 28 August respectively for murders committed when they were 17 years old.
• Javier Suárez Medina, a Mexican national, was executed in Texas in August, despite having been denied his consular rights after arrest. The governments of 16 countries either sent appeals for clemency or joined Mexico in signing a brief urging the US Supreme Court to halt the execution and hold a full hearing to resolve the legal implications of the treaty violation in this case.
• Pakistan national Mir Aimal Kasi was executed in Virginia in November. He had been convicted of killing two CIA agents in 1993. He remained at large until 1997, when he was forcibly abducted from a hotel room in Pakistan by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, held in a secret location, and flown back to the USA.

International Criminal Court

On 6 May, the US government wrote to the UN Secretary-General to inform him that the USA did not intend to become a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and therefore "has no legal obligations arising from its signature on December 31, 2000". During the year, the US approached several governments requesting that they enter into agreements that they would not surrender US nationals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the new International Criminal Court. In some cases, the US government threatened to withdraw military assistance from countries that would not agree. AI condemned such actions as undermining the treaty.

AI country visits

AI delegates visited the USA in January, October and November. An AI delegation visited immigration detainees in jails in New Jersey in February. An AI observer attended a pre-trial hearing in the case of John Walker Lindh in July.