Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal To Hear Victims Testimony Posted: 2012/05/04 From: Mathaba

Urgent: for free republication and widespread distribution quoting Mathaba News Agency or linking to original on Mathaba.Net HeyU Quality Ads KUALA LUMPUR, 4 May 2012  (mathaba) The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal will be hearing the second charge of Crime of Torture and War Crimes against former U.S. President George W. Bush and his associates namely Richard Cheney, former U.S. Vice President, Donald Rumsfeld, former Defence Secretary, Alberto Gonzales, then Counsel to President Bush, David Addington, then General Counsel to the Vice-President, William Haynes II, then General Counsel to Secretary of Defense, Jay Bybee, then Assistant Attorney General, and John Choon Yoo, former Deputy Assistant Attorney-General. The charge reads as follows: The Accused persons had committed the Crime of Torture and War Crimes, in that: The Accused persons had wilfully participated in the formulation of executive orders and directives to exclude the applicability of all international conventions and laws, namely the Convention against Torture 1984, Geneva Convention III 1949, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Charter in relation to the war launched by the U.S. and others in Afghanistan (in 2001) and in Iraq (in March 2003); Additionally, and/or on the basis and in furtherance thereof, the Accused persons authorised, or connived in, the commission of acts of torture and cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment against victims in violation of international law, treaties and conventions including the Convention against Torture 1984 and the Geneva Conventions, including Geneva Convention III 1949. The charges are founded on the contravention of the Convention against Torture 1984 and Geneva Convention III 1949. The Torture Convention defines ‘torture’ as ‘the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, by or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official’. The term ‘public official’ refers to ‘official torture’ and includes the head of a state. It excludes suffering attendant upon the imposition of lawful punishment. The Geneva Conventions were created in 1949 after World War II. They crystallize customary humanitarian law and aim to limit the horrors of war by establishing minimum standards of humane treatment in ‘armed conflict not of an international character’ to all civilians and non-combatants that everyone must follow. The common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention encapsulates a fundamental provision of civilized conduct, and obliges anyone who was not taking an active part in hostilities to be treated humanely under all circumstances. This includes cruel treatment and torture; and “outrages upon personal dignity” – that is no humiliating or degrading treatment. The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) following the due process of the law is bringing these charges against the accused. In 2009, the Commission, having received complaints from torture victims from Guantanamo and Iraq, proceeded to conduct a painstaking and an in-depth investigation for close to two years. President Bush sought and secured legal opinions to justify his actions in suspending the application of the Torture Convention and Geneva Convention III.  Defence Secretary Rumsfeld sought and authorised aggressive interrogation techniques and implemented them first in Guantanamo and then in Afghanistan and Iraq. The brutality inflicted was in clear violation of the international conventions and Legal advice was willingly given by the relevant lawyers to serve an ulterior political objective by the Executive. For this reasons the lawyers were willing participants and are equally culpable for war crimes. The Commission recommended that the Prosecution file charges against the accused persons. The victims who will be attending the Tribunal hearing to testify against the accused were never charged for any actual offences and all legal representation was denied to them. No due process of international law was complied with.    The experiences of these detainees be it in Guantanamo or in Abu Gharib in Baghdad and Bagram in Afghanistan were similar. The systematic methods employed in these illegal detention centres revealed a deeper complicity instead of the ‘acts of a few rogue soldiers’ as claimed by the United States. The cries of these victims have thus far gone unheeded by the international community. The fundamental human right to be heard has been denied to them. These witnesses will testify on the torture they had endured during their incarceration. The accused will have a right to cross-examine them as in any open court hearing. Some of the allegations of torture and inhumane treatment include:  ·         being shackled and hooded for prolonged periods of time; ·         sustained beatings on regular basis; ·         loud music being played with strobe light for hours; ·         placed in solitary confinement; ·         electric shocks in various parts of the body and especially the private parts; ·         hanging victims from the wall and hitting them; ·         sleep deprivation; ·         withholding food, denying medical treatment among others. The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal is constituted of eminent persons with legal qualifications. The judges of the Tribunal, which is headed by retired Malaysian Federal Court judge Tan Sri Dato Lamin bin Haji Mohd Yunus, who also served as an ad litem judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Republic of Yugoslavia,include other notable names such as Mr Alfred Lambremont Webre, a Yale graduate, who authored several books on politics, Tunku Sofiah Jewa, practising lawyer and author of numerous publications on International Law, Prof Salleh Buang, former Federal Counsel in the Attorney-General Chambers and retired Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Sa’ari Yusof. The Tribunal will adjudicate and evaluate the evidence presented as in any court of law. The judges of the Tribunal must be satisfied that the charges are proven beyond reasonable doubt and deliver a reasoned judgement. In the event the tribunal convicts any of the accused, the only sanction is that the name of the guilty person will be entered in the Commission’s Register of War Criminals and publicised worldwide. The tribunal is a tribunal of conscience and a peoples’ initiative. The prosecution for the trial will be lead by Prof Gurdial Singh Nijar, prominent law professor and author of several law publications and Prof Francis Boyle, leading American professor, practitioner and advocate of international law, and assisted by a team of lawyers. The trial will be a public hearing held in an open court on 7-12 May 2012 at the premises of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War (KLFCW) at 88, Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur.  CONTACT For further information concerning the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal please read Background to the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal. News media wishing to receive coverage of the event from 7 to 12 May please Mathaba News Agency for arrangements to obtain a special direct news feed, and agreements on republishing and usage rights. News media contacting via Email to mathaba@gmail.com should include " KLWCC Media Request " in the subject line. The Commission can be reached via Mathaba News Agency atmathaba@gmail.com and  should include " KLWCC Commission Request " in the subject line.

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