From Paris to Baghdad, critics on Friday denounced the US anti-terror legislation that would allow US President George W. Bush to selectively interpret parts of the Geneva Conventions and set tough ground rules for defendants at Guantanamo Bay.
The legislation, which was expected to clear a final congressional hurdle late on Friday and go to the White House for the president's signature, was condemned by human rights groups and newspapers as a violation of international law and an invitation to torture.
Criticism of the US legislation was particularly strong in Europe.
"Once again the Bush [team] has succeeded in significantly breaching the rule of law. This is to the great delight of the `Islamoterrorists' whose aim is to destroy the political system of the godless West," the Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve said in an editorial on Friday.
"Bush Junior now has tailor-made justice," it said.
Manfred Nowak, the UN's anti-torture investigator, said the bill failed to provide prisoners a fair trial and said it was particularly troubling following known abuses at US detention facilities.
"I'm very disappointed," Nowak said in Geneva. "It doesn't send the signal that we would have expected after Abu Ghraib."
While global opinion was decidedly negative, that view was by no means universal.
In Poland, a staunch Washington ally, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrzej Sados declined to comment on the specific legislation but said that "certain extraordinary tools in fighting terrorism are acceptable."
Human rights groups were among the sharpest critics joining the chorus against the legislation.
In London, Amnesty International vowed a campaign against the legislation.
Shami Chakrabarti, director the of UK-based human rights group Liberty, said: "This unsavory political compromise will send the worst possible signal about the United States government's commitment to the rule of law."
The British Foreign Office would not comment specifically on the legislation but said it welcomed the Bush administration's decision to give the International Red Cross access to 14 important detainees, such as al-Qaeda's former No. 3 leader, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
It also reiterated Britain's view that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay should be closed.
Paris's left-leaning Le Monde newspaper attacked the bill in an editorial earlier this week, saying it would give Bush "the power to authorize the CIA to use interrogation methods that respect neither US legislation, nor international law codified by the Geneva conventions. In fact, it would be able to resort to torture. Mr. Bush is playing his usual card: to put the fear of terrorism before any thought on the means to fight it."
Proponents of the bill in the US counter that it specifically prohibits severe abuse of detainees, like mutilation and rape, and that it will grant suspects at Guantanamo Bay the right to confront the evidence against them and have a lawyer present at specially created "military commissions."
But the legislation also gives the president the power to "interpret the meaning and application" of standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow aggressive interrogation methods.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number