08 September 2006
Torture of Detainees "Absolutely Banned" Says State Official
Military tribunals necessary to bring terrorists to justice, legal adviser says
Washington – The use of torture and the use of evidence derived from torture is "absolutely banned" in the Bush administration's proposed procedures for military commissions trying detainees at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba, John Bellinger, the State Department’s legal adviser said September 7.
At a briefing in Washington, Bellinger said that under the proposed legislation, information derived from torture as defined by both international and domestic law cannot be used in trials. "It would be up to the judge to determine based on an argument by the accused whether he believed that something were torture and needed to be prohibited," Bellinger said.
On September 6, President Bush announced that he sent legislation to Congress that specifically would authorize U.S. military commissions to try captured terrorist suspects and would clarify the rules governing how U.S. interrogators may question detainees to gather intelligence against terrorist organizations and prevent potential terrorist activities.
The president also announced that 14 high-level al-Qaida members were transferred from CIA facilities to the Department of Defense's detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they will await trial by U.S. military commissions. Those 14 high-level al-Qaida members transferred to Guantanamo will have access to lawyers, Bellinger said. (See related article.)
The legislation, if passed by Congress, would address all the concerns raised by the Supreme Court in its June 29 decision ruling that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to the U.S. war with the al-Qaida group, Bellinger said. "We need Congress to pass that legislation so that we can move forward and begin to bring people to justice," he said. (See related article.)
After September 11, 2001, Bellinger said, "there were numerous rules on the books that were available to treat past wars and people in past wars … but that there are not clearly existing rules either domestically or internationally" that apply to individuals detained as part of the War on Terror.
"A system needs to be designed in which those who had been conspiring to commit attacks on the United States or elsewhere around the world can be tried in a fair system for their crimes," he said.
The Bush administration draft legislation calls for trials to be open except in certain limited circumstances that allow the accused to be excluded if presenting the evidence to him or her would compromise national security. In such a situation, a member of the president’s Cabinet would have to certify that this exception is essential to national security. Then, the judge presiding over the case would determine whether there is a way in which the evidence can be presented that would not compromise national security. The judge also would have to determine if exclusion of the defendant from trial during presentation of that evidence would interfere with the accused person's right to a full and fair trial.
Also on September 6, the Defense Department released a new field manual that specifies treatment and interrogation procedures for all detainees under the department's custody worldwide. (See related article.)
For additional information, see Detainee Issues.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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