February, 07 2011, 10:33am EDT
Amnesty International Calls on Swiss Government to Investigate President George W. Bush
WASHINGTON
Amnesty International today called on the Swiss authorities to open a criminal investigation against former U.S. President George W. Bush in light of his expected visit to the country on February 12.
"The Swiss authorities would be obliged to detain and investigate the former president even if they were only to rely on his own statements that he authorized waterboarding, an interrogation technique that clearly constitutes torture," said Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International.
President Bush admitted in his memoirs published last November, and in a television interview, that he authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to use a number of "enhanced interrogation techniques" against detainees held in secret CIA custody, including "waterboarding."
"It is not often that a person with President Bush's high public profile goes on television or puts in writing what amounts to admissions of personal involvement in crimes under international law, but this is what has happened here," continued Shetty."As the US authorities have, so far, failed to bring President Bush to justice, the international community must step in."
Amnesty International has submitted a memo outlining human rights violations to the appropriate Swiss authorities, along with hundreds of supporting documents. Amnesty International also sent documents to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Amnesty International's submission to Swiss prosecutors and government officials examines the former president's legal responsibility for two cases in which he authorized the CIA to use waterboarding.
The CIA Inspector General found that these two detainees, Zayn al Abidin Muhammed Husayn (known as Abu Zubaydah) and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were subjected, between them, to at least 266 applications of waterboarding in 2002 and 2003. In this technique, detainees were strapped down, tipped backwards, had water poured over their nostrils and mouths, and experienced the pain and suffering of suffocation by drowning.
In the CIA's secret detention program, set up under then-President Bush's authorization, at least two dozen additional detainees were subjected to a range of other "enhanced interrogation techniques," including being forced to stay for hours in positions designed to cause pain and suffering, and being subjected to sleep deprivation and assaults.
The submission highlights further evidence of torture and other crimes under international law committed against detainees held in U.S. military custody in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq.
For more than six years, Amnesty International has been calling on the United States to fully investigate and bring to justice anyone responsible for crimes under international law committed during the "war on terror." The United States has failed to meet its obligations.
"Switzerland prides itself on its support for international justice," said Shetty. "This is an opportunity to translate that commitment from words into action."
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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'A Crime With No Immunity': Trump Solicits Buyers for Corrupt Crypto Dinner
"Trump's ongoing meme grift squats at the crest of his mountain of conflicts, corruptions, and debasements of the presidency," said one watchdog.
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U.S. President Donald Trump used his social media accounts on Monday to promote a scheduled private dinner for the top holders of the $TRUMP meme coin, effectively soliciting purchases of the crypto token that now accounts for a substantial portion of his net worth.
On both X and TruthSocial, Trump posted a promotional image for the May 22 "gala dinner," which will be held at his private golf club in Virginia. Only the top 220 investors in $TRUMP will get a seat at the dinner; the top 25 holders are promised a "VIP White House tour."
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The Trump family's net worth has reportedly grown by $2.9 billion over just the past six months thanks to crypto-related investments, and creators of the president's meme coin have raked in hundreds of millions from trading fees as people rush to purchase access to Trump. Late last month, a shipping logistics firm announced that it planned to purchase $20 million worth of $TRUMP coins as it seeks tariff relief.
"Those responsible for upholding the law, from federal prosecutors to members of Congress, can only ignore this at the expense of their own personal legacies."
The watchdog group Public Citizen said Monday that Trump's promotion of the private dinner for investors in his meme coin "is a crime with no immunity."
"Federal criminal law (18 U.S.C. § 201; 5 C.F.R. § 2635) forbids the president from soliciting gifts; as this is not a presidential act, he does not enjoy immunity from prosecution," the group noted, alluding to the U.S. Supreme Court's sweeping immunity decision last year.
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This is a breaking story… Please check back for possible updates...
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ended a week of speculation on Monday by announcing that she will not seek the ranking member position on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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An internationally acclaimed digital news outlet in El Salvador said Monday that the administration of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is preparing to arrest a number of its journalists following the publication of an interview with two former gang leaders who shed new light on a power-sharing agreement with the U.S.-backed leader and self-described "world's coolest dictator."
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As El Faro reported:
At the heart of the threat of arrests is irony: El Faro was only able to interview the two Revolucionarios because they escaped El Salvador with the complicity of Bukele.
One, who goes by "Liro Man," recounts that he was taken to Guatemala, through a blind spot in the Salvadoran border, by Bukele gang negotiator Carlos Marroquín; the other, Carlos Cartagena, or "Charli," was arrested on a warrant in April 2022, early in the state of exception, but quickly released after the police received a call at the station and backed off.
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