Torture by proxy is collusion by one government in the abuse of prisoners by another. The United States has rendered prisoners to nations known to practice torture.[1] In the case of the United Kingdom, the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair is alleged to have colluded in the torture of prisoners by Libya.[citation needed]

The frequency with which the US government has chosen to employ the practice of transferring prisoners to countries that practice torture has fluctuated from one administration to the next. Before the September 11 attacks, renditions to countries that practice torture were sporadic and ad hoc.[2] Afterwards, the Bush administration created a dedicated rendition bureaucracy and streamlined procedures which radically expanded abductions for torture by proxy, most commonly sending victims to be abused in Egypt, sometimes to Syria and Morocco.[1] Despite protestations that it does not condone torture, recently the Obama administration has been accused of transferring prisoners to face brutal treatment in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia.[3]

Colluding governments use proxy torturers in order to support the deception that they have no knowledge of, or participation in, torture.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b U.S. Torture-by-proxy
    • Jane Mayer (14 February 2005). "Outsourcing torture". The New Yorker. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
    • Cobain, Ian; Grey, Stephen (2 August 2005). "British detainee's tale of US 'torture by proxy'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Torture by Proxy". Los Angeles Times. 11 March 2005. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  3. ^ Keating, Joshua (16 June 2015). "Senate votes to ban torture: Will It Stick This Time?". Slate.com. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  4. ^ Grey, Stephen (17 October 2006). Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program. St. Martin's Press. pp. 11–. ISBN 978-1-4299-1957-9.
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