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The practice of torture by the United
States is a negative influence on the world
GENEVA, March 10.—The reaction of the United States
and its allies to the September 11, 2001 attacks to
intensify the use of torture in their investigations
has had a highly negative influence on the rest of
the world, stated Manfred Nowak, the UN special
rapporteur on torture.
“Many countries felt that if even the United States
is officially torturing, why should not we also
torture,” the expert explained during a press
conference in Geneva, in which he took stock of his
five years of his mandate.
Nowak highlighted the contradiction between the fact
that the United States is seen as the country “that
invented human rights,” while he added that the
“entire world knows that the United States practiced
torture although it (the government of then
President George W. Bush) denies it.”
Likewise, Nowak referred to the most widespread
kinds of torture currently being used, among which
he listed sleep disturbance, which is perpetrated at
the detention center for terrorism suspects on the
U.S. base in Guantánamo Bay (Cuba), where prisoners
are woken up every 15 minutes.
Nowak stated that the principal reason given for the
use of torture is to obtain a confession, a
statement that will later be used in trials.
Translated by Granma International
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