Follow-on to Swedish "Extraordinary Rendition" Story

i posted on this just the other day... interestingly enough, nothing about the U.N.'s Convention Against Torture was mentioned in the Washington Post article...

(more)

Sweden has violated international law by sending a suspected terrorist to Egypt where he was tortured, the U.N.'s Committee Against Torture has concluded.

When Sweden forcibly returned an asylum seeker and suspected terrorist, Ahmed Agiza, to Egypt in December 2001, it violated the Convention Against Torture, the committee said Friday at the end of twice-yearly sessions in Geneva.

Despite prior assurances by Egyptian diplomats of his safety, Agiza was subsequently tortured in Egypt, the committee said. The convention forbids the transfer of persons to places where there are substantial grounds to believe he or she may be tortured, even in times of war and emergency.

[...]

U.S. intelligence operatives at the airport had pressured Swedish authorities to return Agiza to Egypt along with another suspect, Mohammed al-Zari, and that both men were physically abused before being sent to Egypt.

A March report by the Swedish chief parliamentary ombudsman also found that the Swedish security service and airport police ''displayed a remarkable sub-ordinance to the American officials'' and ''lost control of the situation,'' leading to the ill-treatment before the men were transported to Cairo.

"despite prior assurances of his safety..." like i said in the earlier post, if humane treatment is the goal, what's the point of rendition...? oh, yeah... and, btw, it's a violation of international law, assurances or not...

The Committee is scheduled to meet again in November to review reports from Ecuador, Austria, France, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guyana, and possibly the United States.

if the u.s. is reviewed, i wonder if it will get any media coverage... probably not...

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