Amnesty International on Extraordinary Rendition 21 December 2005

Index

Click the link below for the page index

Arts and Exhibitions    Cavalcades and Galas    Charity Events

Christmas and Hogmanay    City Life    The Film Festival    The Fringe

Politics    National Youth Orchestra of Scotland    Royal Visits    City Views

   Festivals of Sea    Music and Musicians    Life in the City    Picture Galleries

Written works    Video    Spoken Files    Slide Shows    Back to Front page

______________________________________________________________________

Concerned Citizens in Edinburgh hand letter to US Consul General

A group of more than 50 concerned citizens have signed a strong letter expressing their repugnance at the use of torture and urging the US authorities to stop using Scottish airports to facilitate this practice. The group includes senior churchmen and women, authors, poets, broadcasters, professors, lawyers, senior trade unionists and representatives of NGOs in Scotland.

The group of signatories represents a broad cross-section of Scottish people.  Many are from Edinburgh. We welcome the recent decision of Edinburgh City Council concerning ‘extraordinary rendition’ and wish to add our voices to those who condemn it.  This is the practice whereby US Government agents or their allies apparently abduct terror suspects and transport them to “black sites” and to certain Middle Eastern states where torture is endemic.   Under international law, everyone is entitled to be charged with a crime, to be defended by a lawyer, and to face a fair trial. Torture is prohibited absolutely as is the practice of abduction and estradition without due process of law.  The possible use of Edinburgh and of other Scottish airports for ‘extraordinary rendition’ needs to be investigated, as a matter of urgency, by the authorities here in Scotland.  The moral case for such an investigation is unassailable.

Mike Greenlaw of Artists for Justice and Peace putting finishing touches to the picture

The mural painted by Mike Greenlaw of Artists for Justice and Peace and depicts Jesus as the Light of the World illuminating representations of torture

Rev John Armes, the Rector at St John’s, and Rosemary Burnett of Amnesty International Scotland, and Mike Greenlaw below the Painting

Amnesty International at the Justice and Peace Centre at St John's Church

Amnesty International supporters gathered at the Justice and Peace Centre

Rosemary Burnett and Amnesty Supporters going to USA consulate in Edinburgh

The letter being delivered by hand from Amnesty International to the USA Consulates office in Edinburgh

Amnesty International Scotland and supporters at the USA Consulate in Edinburgh

Rosemary Burnett,  Program Director of Amnesty International Scotland handing in the letter with signatures to the USA Consulates office in Edinburgh

Copyright photographs taken by Andrew Murphy

All copying strictly forbidden in part or whole

LETTER TO THE PRINCIPAL OFFICER

US CONSULATE GENERAL, EDINBURGH

21 December 2005

Cécile Shea

Principal Officer

US Consulate General

3 Regent Terrace

Edinburgh

EH7 5BW

Dear Ms Shea

We are writing to you to express our repugnance at practices that are undertaken by your government, whether directly or by proxy, that amount to torture and to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as defined by international standards.   These practices take place, variously, on American soil, in territories and “black sites” controlled or occupied by your government (as in Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib) and in other countries to which US agents clandestinely transport individuals to be tortured.  This is what is called “extraordinary rendition”.

We in Scotland, in common with people and elected representatives in other countries throughout the world, condemn these practices.

We know that the American people, with their own great democratic and legal traditions, would not willingly consent to what actually is being done by the government of President George W Bush.  This president claims to be upholding Christian values.  Yet what is authorised or condoned by him violates values that Christians hold in common with all people of conscience and of all faiths.

We ask why it is necessary for the US government to transfer people to states such as Syria, Jordan and Egypt if the objective is not to extract information under torture.

You will be aware of the ruling by the UK Law Lords on 8^th December, which used such terms as “moral defilement” and “abhorrence” with reference to “torture and its fruits” (i.e., the information that might be extracted from people who are being tortured).  This ruling reaffirms fundamental principles both of domestic law and of international human rights law.

Your own government is a signatory to and is bound by the provisions of the UN Convention against Torture (1985).  The Convention bans the use of torture.  It defines the meaning of the term in Article 1 and prohibits what your government calls “extraordinary rendition” that is the prohibited practice, defined in Article 3 of the Convention, of the expulsion, return or extradition of a person to a state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he [or she] would be in danger of being subjected to torture.   We note that other instruments of international law that apply to “extraordinary rendition” are the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and its Protocol and Geneva Conventions III and IV (1949).   These are all treaties to which the United States is a signatory.  Evidence of torture has been established by autopsy reports on detainees in US-controlled facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.   These reports have been obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act.

Scottish airports and RAF bases must not be used to facilitate the inhuman purposes that are so unequivocally condemned in international and domestic law.  The justification of torture as a protection against terrorism is a false one - and ultimately futile. Torture is always a vile act.  It degrades the tortured, the perpetrators and the apologists.  It fuels outrage and provides motivation and propaganda for yet further acts of terror.

Yours sincerely

Signatories to the letter to the US Consul-General in Edinburgh on the subject of Extraordinary Rendition

Dr Alubaid                  Concerned citizen

Carol Alubaid            Concerned citizen

Rev John Armes St John’s Church

Dick Barbor-Might            Concerned citizen

Kelda Barnes             Concerned citizen

Mike Bell                   Development worker, Niddrie

John Blair-Fish     World Development Movement, Edinburgh and Lothians

Kenneth Boyd.            Professor of Medical Ethics, Edinburgh University

Patricia Bryden            Amnesty member

Rosemary Burnett            Programme Director Scotland. Amnesty International

Bruce Cameron            Bishop of Aberdeen and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Ian Cooke                   Pilton Partnership

Alison Elliot                New College

Janet Fenton.             Coordinator, Ever Green

Catherine Ferguson            Concerned citizen

Rosemary Ferguson            Concerned citizen

Suzanne Fustukian            Senior Lecturer Institute for International Health and Development, Queen Margaret University College

Jenny Gaiawyn            Concerned citizen

Donald Grigor            Concerned citizen

Emma Grigor            Concerned citizen

Pamela Gruber            OBE

Helen Hanlon             Concerned Citizen

Wendy Hebard            Concerned Citizen

James Henderson            Researcher

Professor Jim Murdoch     Professor of Public Law at Glasgow School of Law

Dr Christa Hook            Concerned Citizen

Jenny House              Writer

Adam Howard            Concerned Citizen

Paula Jennings            Writer

Lyn Jones                   Concerned Citizen

Peter Kampman.             Director, Interminds

Rev David Kellas             Concerned Citizen

A.L. Kennedy.            Author

Phil Lacoux                 Consultant Anaesthetist, Dundee

David Lacy.                Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Sarah Low                  Concerned Citizen

John Loughton.            Concerned Citizen

Shona McArdle            Concerned Citizen

Mary McCann            Concerned Citizen

Dr Richard McCready            National Secy, Justice and Peace Commission

Robin McEwen.            Secretary of the Howard League

Andy MacGregor            Research Director

Valerie MacGregor            Senior Court Reporter

Margaret McIntosh            Convenor of the Peace and Justice Centre

David Maguire            Concerned Citizen

Helen Mein                Concerned Citizen

Rev Jim Mein                        Concerned Citizen

Alice Mitchell             Poet

Graham Neal              Concerned Citizen

Ray Newton               Concerned Citizen

Verene Nicolas.            Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, Edinburgh

Cardinal Keith O’Brien            Archbishop of St Andrew’s and Edinburgh

Zoe Palmer                 Concerned Citizen

Aileen Park                Concerned Citizen

Dr David Player            Concerned Citizen

John Player.               Adult Learning Project

Derrick Pounder.            Professor of Forensic Medicine, University of Dundee

Rev Donald Reid            Convenor of the Justice, Peace and Creation Network

Rev Canon Prof John Riches.            Convenor of Mission and Ministry Scottish Episcopal Church

Eurig Scadrett            Lecturer in Sociology Queen Margaret University College

Cat Scott                     Concerned Citizen

John Scott                   Scottish Human Rights Centre

Sheila Skinner            Amnesty member

Helen Smart               Lecturer, Queen Margaret University College

Grahame Smith             Deputy General Secretary, STUC

Pat Stocker                 Concerned Citizen

Martin Sime               Chief Executive, SCVO

David Turner              Member of Amnesty International, Campaign Against the Arms Trade

Karen Watts               Development Worker, Niddrie 

Ruth Wishart            Broadcaster

For further information please click the link below:

Amnesty International Scotland

___________________________________________________

All material contained on this Internet site is the copyright material of Andrew Murphy of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh.   All copying from www.murphysedinburgh.co.uk and www.murphysedinburgh.co.uk in part or whole is strictly forbidden.

e-mail:  murphysedinburgh@btinternet.com

______________________________________________________

Index

Click the link below for the page index

Arts and Exhibitions    Cavalcades and Galas    Charity Events

Christmas and Hogmanay    City Life    The Film Festival    The Fringe

Politics    National Youth Orchestra of Scotland    Royal Visits    City Views

   Festivals of Sea    Music and Musicians    Life in the City    Picture Galleries

Written works    Video    Spoken Files    Slide Shows    Back to Front page

______________________________________________________

About this sites origins    Site policies    To contact Andrew Murphy

Murphy's Edinburgh is designed, built and maintained by Andrew Murphy of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh. ©