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Amnesty wants US to ban the sale of tools of torture

Dozens of US companies sell weapons and other equipment used overseas for torture, Amnesty International said yesterday, calling for a ban on the sales.

The items include high-tech electroshock weapons, leg irons and serrated thumb cuffs designed to tear flesh if a detainee tries to escape, said a report by the US chapter of the London-based human rights group.

"No US company should profit from torture," said William Schulz, head of the chapter.

"The global manufacture, marketing and export of the equipment for torture is a moneymaking business that turns a blind eye to the suffering it causes," said the report, "Stopping the Torture Trade."

Although it is illegal to own some of the equipment in the US, Amnesty International said the Commerce Department has granted export licenses for sales valued at US$97 million since 1997 under the category of "crime control equipment."

It said some 80 US companies were involved in the manufacture, marketing and export of the items.

An analysis of Commerce Department data shows Saudi Arabia, Russia, Taiwan, Israel and Egypt as the major recipients of the US equipment, Amnesty said. The report said the group has documented that torturers in those countries use such technology.

The equipment could also be used for legitimate law enforcement reasons, including to restrain or subdue detainees.

But Amnesty spokesman Alistair Hodgett said the group still believes some of them -- such as the flesh-tearing thumb cuffs and a belt that emits electric shocks -- are "inherently cruel" and their export thus should be banned outright. Other devices have not been tested for their medical effects, and their export should be suspended, he said.

Amnesty released the study as the US State Department was issuing its annual report on human rights around the world.

"It is unconscionable that while the US State Department promotes human rights, the US Department of Commerce has approved export licenses to countries that our own government documents as committing torture," Schulz said in a statement.

Hodgett said there are relatively few manufacturers of the equipment, but they sell to an increasing number of suppliers and marketers.

"Once they roll off the production line there's no follow-up to show where these things end up," he said in an interview.

"Despite improved government regulation of exports, weapons are being sold and resold into the hands of torturers," Schulz said.

"In the absence of stringent worldwide controls to prevent this ... export should be immediately halted," the Amnesty International report said.

The report is part of a year-long campaign by the human rights group to document torture around the world.

The group has also launched an Internet program in which supporters can send messages quickly to officials where torture is taking place and demand an immediate end to the abuse.
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