U.S. Torture Prosecutions on the Agenda at U.N. Human Rights Council

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CNSnews:


(CNSNews.com) – The disclosure that former President Bush personally approved the “waterboarding” of al-Qaeda terrorist Khalid Sheik Mohammed is expected to bring calls for torture prosecutions – both in the U.S. and at the United Nations.

Americans can expect to hear more about the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CAT), a U.S.-ratified treaty that calls for criminal prosecutions for “complicity or participation in torture.”

Bush’s acknowledgment that he endorsed the interrogation method, which simulates drowning, to obtain information from terrorists appears in his memoir, “Decision Points,” which went on sale Tuesday. In an appearance in Michigan last June, the former president said of waterboarding the 9/11 attack mastermind that he would “do it again to save lives.”

Media reports on Bush’s published comments brought condemnation from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), an umbrella organization comprising more than 290 religious groups in the U.S.