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AI-index: AMR 51/051/2002 28/03/2002
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Public Statement
28 March 2002
AI Index AMR 51/051/2002 - News Service Nr. 57
USA: Amnesty International calls for investigation on alleged beating of inmate in Kentucky jail (his fault for commiting a crime!!111)
Amnesty International is calling on the Kentucky authorities to hold a full, impartial inquiry into the alleged beating of Chad Boggess in the Boyd County Detention Center ten days ago. The incident left him with multiple injuries and in a coma on a life support machine.
While the full facts are not yet known, other inmates have alleged witnessing guards and police officers kicking and stomping on Burgess and beating him with night sticks in a sustained attack during the night of 16-17 March. They also claim inmates were allowed to join in at one point.
The allegations are deeply disturbing and suggest that Boggess may have been subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in gross violation of international standards and treaties to which the US is a party. International standards require that whenever there is ground for believing that such treatment may have occurred, the authorities must proceed to a full, impartial inquiry.
Amnesty International is concerned by allegations that Boggess was sprayed with large quantities of mace or pepper spray, and that he may have been hogtied -- a dangerous form of restraint which has been banned by many police departments.
The organization welcomes reports that the FBI and state and local police have opened criminal investigations into the incident, and is urging that these investigations be conducted with the utmost thoroughness so that the full facts can be established and those responsible for any wrongdoing brought to justice.
Amnesty International is also calling on the state corrections department -- which oversees jails -- to conduct an inquiry into all the circumstances of what happened. Such an inquiry should include a review of what precipitated the incident; who was responsible for authorizing or supervising the use of force; what quantities of chemical spray were used; and a review of the adequacy of jail policies and procedures on the use of force and restraints.
The organization expressed shock at the allegations that guards and even inmates took part in a sustained beating -- which, if confirmed, would suggest not only criminal wrongdoing but a serious breakdown in standards and supervision at the jail -- and urged the authorities to make it clear that any use of excessive force and ill-treatment by guards will not be tolerated. It also called for international standards on the use of force to be incoporated into police guidelines and training.
AI Index: AMR 51/103/2002 (Public)
News Service No: 110
28 June 2002
USA: Time to rethink the death penalty - 30 years after landmark court ruling (ha ha at least we kill them mercifully, not like those dirty a-rabs and their stoning!!11!!)
Politicians in the United States should use the 30th anniversary of Furman v Georgia, the Supreme Court decision which overturned the country's capital laws, to reflect upon the USA's increasingly isolated position on the death penalty and to begin to work towards its abolition, Amnesty International said today.
"US officials should be troubled by the damage that the death penalty inflicts on their country's reputation in an increasingly abolitionist world", Amnesty International said. "The failure of their predecessors to seize the opportunity presented by the Furman decision to lead their country away from judicial killing is coming home to roost 30 years on".
The Furman v Georgia ruling was handed down on 29 June 1972. It found that the arbitrary manner in which the death penalty was being applied rendered it unconstitutional. Although only two of the Justices found the death penalty unconstitutional per se, the ruling nevertheless overturned existing death sentences. However, instead of progressing towards abolition, the country's legislators set about rewriting their capital statutes. In 1976, the US Supreme Court upheld the new laws, and executions resumed in 1977 with the killing of Gary Gilmore in Utah.
"Nearly 800 executions later, the evidence continues to mount that the capital justice system is tainted by arbitrariness, discrimination and error", Amnesty International continued. "At the same time, the number of countries that have abolished the death penalty in law or practice has risen to 111, a clear majority worldwide".
The USA frequently violates international minimum safeguards in its pursuit of the death penalty, including in its use against people whose guilt remains in doubt; defendants denied their right to adequate legal representation; the mentally impaired; foreign nationals denied their consular rights; and child offenders -- those under 18 at the time of their crimes.
Last week the US Supreme Court finally ruled that the execution of people with mental retardation violates the Constitution. The ruling came 13 years after a resolution was adopted at the United Nations calling on all retentionist countries to abolish such use of the death penalty.
"US officials frequently promote their country as the world's most progressive force for human rights", Amnesty International said. "Their continuing failure to put an end to the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment starkly gives the lie to that claim".
Since judicial killing resumed in the USA in January 1977, 784 men and women have been put to death nationwide. More than 500 of these executions have occurred since 1995.
See: USA: Wrong Turn - An international perspective on the 30th anniversary of Furman v. Georgia (AMR 51/102/2002, 28 June 2002), available on
www.amnesty.org
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/amr511022002
USA: Stop discriminating against Haitian asylum-seekers (GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY!! LOL)
Amnesty International today expressed concern that asylum-seekers from Haiti are being subject, as a matter of course, to indefinite detention in the USA without adequate opportunity to present their claims for asylum and in conditions which are unsuitable for refugees.
Amnesty International is also disturbed at reports that a substantial number of Haitian asylum-seekers who have shown a credible fear of persecution in Haiti have been ordered deported. The organization fears that more Haitian asylum-seekers may face the same fate.
A lawsuit, filed in mid-March by immigration attorneys and Haitian rights advocates on behalf of Haitian asylum seekers in Miami, Florida, alleges that the US government is discriminating against Haitian asylum seekers, including those who have shown they have a credible fear of persecution in Haiti, by continuing to detain them as their claims proceed, while refugees from other countries are released. Those whose claims are pending include a woman opposition activist who claims she was raped and beaten by a local political leader of the pro-government Lavalas party after she helped campaign for the opposition party.
The lawsuit describes how -- contrary to previous policy under which Haitian asylum seekers who had demonstrated a credible fear of persecution in Haiti were regularly released within a few days of arriving -- the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is holding them for months in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions where they endure harsh treatment and abuse. It also claims that the process for dealing with Haitian asylum claims has been speeded up, depriving applicants of a full and fair opportunity to present their asylum claims, with many going without legal representation as a result. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that efforts to provide legal representation to Haitian asylum-seekers are being severely hampered at detention centres such as the Krome Processing Service Center near Miami and the Turner Guildford Knight Correctional Center (TGK), a maximum security jail in Miami.
Amnesty International is concerned at allegations that women detainees taken to TGK in Miami are suffering especially harsh treatment. This includes: verbal abuse and insults by guards; frequent cell "lockdowns" for hours at a time; and inadequate provision of food, medical care and exercise facilities.
In March, in responding to the lawsuit, the INS admitted that its new policy of detaining Haitian asylum seekers was to deter other Haitians from attempting to enter the USA and to avoid further risk-taking. International standards provide that asylum-seekers should not normally be detained, furthermore the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has recently stated that the detention of asylum seekers for deterrence purposes is contrary to international refugee law and that detention of asylum seekers based on national origin is discriminatory and would constitute arbitrary detention.
Amnesty International is calling on the US authorities to fully reinstate the government's previous policy regarding Haitian asylum-seekers; to ensure that all Haitian asylum-seekers have a full and fair opportunity to present their asylum claims; to take immediate steps to ensure the safety and well being of women asylum seekers at TGK; not to deport anyone who has shown a credible fear of persecution; and to find more suitable alternatives to housing asylum seekers than local jails.
Background
The new INS policy was put into place after 167 Haitians were rescued by the US Coast Guard from a boat in difficulties off the coast of Florida in December 2001. More than 270 Haitians with a credible fear of persecution in Haiti have been detained since December. While the INS recently released a small number of Haitian asylum seekers, announcing that it had amended its policy of non-release, Amnesty International understands that this amendment is very limited in that it will affect only a handful of Haitians who arrive in the USA by air (while the majority of Haitians arrive by boat). Moreover, the amended policy still requires Haitian asylum-seekers to complete excessive documentation not required of other groups seeking asylum. Haitians arriving by boat are reportedly still being detained without exception.
? And what have you offered to the world, dear ouizy? Your presence? Great. 
Allow me a big grin. And now, have fun in the kindergarten. You don?t think that was full of hate as well?
