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United States to Block U.N. Vote on Torture Convention over Prison Visits, al-Qaida Detainees
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
(2:46 AM ET)
By Dafna Linzer
Associated Press Writer

"A vote against the optional protocol would be a disastrous setback in the fight against torture," said Martin MacPherson, head of Amnesty International's legal program. People were tortured or ill-treated by authorities in 111 countries last year, according to an Amnesty report.

UNITED NATIONS -- AP
The United States is having second thoughts about a U.N. plan to fight torture because of worries about allowing outside inspectors into U.S. prisons and the main detention center for terror suspects, U.S. diplomats and human rights campaigners say.

The U.N. Economic and Social Council, known as ECOSOC, was expected to vote on the anti-torture plan on Wednesday. A U.S. official said the United States plans to block the vote and wants to reopen negotiations on wording adopted in Geneva in April.

Among the U.S. concerns is language that could allow for international and independent visits to U.S. prisons and to terror suspects being held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. negotiators are concerned about allowing observers into state prisons. The official said that states have their own penal laws and a U.S. government-backed convention permitting visits would infringe on state's rights.
(More: New Jersey Online News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

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