Torture: It's A Crime When Gaddafi Does It

By Steve Hynd

This morning brings the news that the International Criminal Court has handed down arrest warrants against Muammar el-Qaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and his chief of intelligence, Abdullah Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity.

The Guardian lays out some of the details.

In his submission to the court last month Moreno-Ocampo said Gaddafi had a personal hand in planning and implementing "a policy of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and demonstrators and dissidents in particular".

"Gaddafi's plan expressly included the use of lethal force against demonstrators and dissidents.

"Methods used to torture alleged dissidents have included tying electric wires around victims' genitals and shocking them with electricity and whipping victims with an electric wire after tying them upside down with a rope connected to a stick."

The Libyan leader ordered snipers to shoot at civilians leaving mosques after evening prayers. His forces carried out a systematic campaign of arrest and detention of alleged dissidents.

So ordering a widespread set of attacks which murder civilians and which involve detentions without trial, torture and extra-judicial killings are crimes against humanity. Got that?

Here's Human Rights Watch, Feb 2010:

Based upon its interviews and review of the documentary record, Human Rights Watch has concluded that there is credible evidence demonstrating that, since December 2007, Bahraini security forces[90]have:

• used electro-shock devices against detainees;


• suspended detainees in painful positions;


• beat detainees� feet with rubber hoses and/or batons;


• slapped, punched, and kicked detainees, and beaten them with implements;


• forced detainees to stand for prolonged periods of time; and


• threatened detainees with death and rape.

The use of these techniques, separately and in combination, violates Bahrain�s obligations under international and national law, as reference to any number of authorities makes plain.

And again, from April 2010:

Detainees in a secret Baghdad detention facility were hung upside-down, deprived of air, kicked, whipped, beaten, given electric shocks, and sodomized, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraq should thoroughly investigate and prosecute all government and security officials responsible, Human Rights Watch said.

The difference is, of course, that the Bahrain and Iraq regimes are considered Western allies. No ICC warrants for them.

Similiarly, the U.S. has over the last decade indulged itself in the killing of civilians, mass detentions, detentions without trial, extrajudicial executions and torture. National leaders have freely admitted to co-ordinating these crimes. No warrants for Bush and his cronies either, nor for Obama and his.

Gaddafi is an evil man and should face his day in court, without a doubt. But enough with the double standards.