Nederland en Afghanistan 48

Wordt het niet eens tijd voor onze volksvertegenwoordigers om te besluiten ons te distantieren van onze bondgenoten in de zogeheten 'war on terror' in plaats van hen militair en politiek te steunen? Common Dreams bericht: ''Arbitrary' Detention Fueling 'Dire' Situation in Iraq: Amnesty Tens of thousands of people have been held "arbitrarily" in Iraq since the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003, creating a situation that is ripe for abuse, Amnesty International has said. Most of those held were neither charged nor faced trial and had no basic right to challenge their detention, the London-based human rights group said as it launched a new report "Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and Torture in Iraq". "Nearly three years after the US and allied forces invaded Iraq and toppled the government of Saddam Hussein, the human rights situation in the country remains dire," it said. "The deployment of US-led forces in Iraq and the armed response that engendered has resulted in thousands of deaths of civilians and widespread abuses amid the ongoing conflict." The report details what AI calls "human rights violations for which the US-led MNF (multi-national force) is directly responsible" as well as those increasingly committed by Iraqi security forces. "The record of these forces, including US forces and their United Kingdom allies, is an unpalatable one," they note. It added: "Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, tens of thousands of people have been detained by foreign forces, mainly the US forces, without being charged or tried and without the right to challenge their detention before a judicial body."' Lees verder: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0305-01.htm