February 26, 2001 Web posted at: 1334 GMT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dozens of U.S. companies sell weapons and other equipment used overseas for torture, Amnesty International said Monday,
calling for a ban on the sales.
The items include high-tech electroshock weapons, leg irons and serrated
thumb cuffs designed to tear flesh if a detainee tries to get free, said
a report by the U.S. chapter of the London-based human rights group.
"No U.S. company should profit from torture," said William F. Schulz, head of the chapter.
"The global manufacture, marketing and export of the equipment for torture is a moneymaking business that turns a blind eye to the
suffering it causes," said the report, "Stopping the Torture Trade."
Although it is illegal to own some of the equipment in the United States, Amnesty International said the Commerce Department has granted
export licenses for sales valued at dlrs 97 million since 1997 under the
category of "crime control equipment." It said some 80 American companies were involved in the manufacture, marketing and export of the
items.
An analysis of Commerce data shows Saudi Arabia, Russia, Taiwan, Israel and Egypt as the major recipients of the U.S. equipment, Amnesty said.
The report said the group has documented that torturers in those countries use such technology.
The equipment could also be used for legitimate law enforcement reasons,
including to restrain or subdue detainees. But Amnesty spokesman Alistair Hodgett said the group still believes some of them -- such as
the flesh-tearing thumb cuffs and a belt that emits electric shocks -- are "inherently cruel" and their export thus should be banned outright.
Other devices have not been tested for their medical effects, and their export should be suspended, he said.
Amnesty released the study as the State Department was issuing its annual report on human rights around the world.
"It is unconscionable that while the U.S. State Department promotes human rights, the U.S. Department of Commerce has approved export
licenses to countries that our own government documents as committing torture," Schulz said in a statement.
Hodgett said there are relatively few manufacturers of the equipment, but they sell to an increasing number of suppliers and marketers.
"Once they roll off the production line there's no followup to show where these things end up," he said in an interview.
"Despite improved government regulation of exports, weapons are being sold and resold into the hands of torturers," Schulz said.
"In the absence of stringent worldwide controls to prevent this ..., export should be immediately halted," the Amnesty International report
said.
The report is part of a yearlong campaign by the human rights group to document torture around the world. It also has launched an Internet
program in which supporters can send messages quickly to officials where
torture is taking place and demand an immediate end to the abuse.
Associated
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