U.S. State Dept Report Criticizes Foreign Human Rights Abuses(...some methods of which are also employed by U.S. Govt)

U.S. accuses dozens of nations of mistreating prisoners

2 hours, 41 minutes ago

By Frank Davies, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The State Department's annual report on human rights Monday criticized dozens of governments for mistreating prisoners and using practices that U.S. forces also have used in the war on terror.

The report also condemned the routine use of torture in three countries - Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia - where U.S. forces have transferred detainees or arranged for their custody.

The report surveys human, political and religious rights practices last year in 196 nations.

The survey found progress with relatively free elections in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and the Ukraine. China, where challenges to the ruling Communist Party are banned, was cited for detentions of writers, religious activists and dissidents. Latin America was criticized for dangerous corruption.

Torture is still widely used throughout the Middle East, including in nations such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other U.S. allies, the report said.

The State Department criticized Pakistan for use of "prolonged isolation," "denial of sleep" and "painful shackling;" Egypt for "stripping and blindfolding" and dousing detainees with cold water; and Syria for forcing prisoners to stand for long periods of time.

Those tactics were also used and approved by the Pentagon (news - web sites) in Afghanistan, Iraq (news - web sites) and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 500 detainees are held.

Some of those "stress and duress" methods, including forced nudity and shackling, were approved by top defense officials in late 2002, and some were later rescinded.

But two investigations of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal last year in Iraq found there was confusion about what methods were approved, and several coercive tactics continued to be used.

According to several FBI (news - web sites) agents, detainees in Guantanamo were left shackled to the floor, some in a fetal position, for more than 24 hours. Others were subjected to religious humiliation and sensory deprivation.

The State Department's human rights report is required by Congress. Embassy personnel around the world contribute to it, covering every country in the United Nations (news - web sites) except the United States.

"The reason we don't do a report on ourselves is the same reason you don't write investigative reports about you own finances - it wouldn't have any credibility," said State Department human rights official Michael Kozak. "We're not against being scrutinized, and we are, by many other organizations.

"No country has a perfect human rights record, and certainly not the United States," said Kozak, the acting assistant secretary of the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor....