Michael Roston, rawstory.com
The State Department has no plans to stop accepting promises that countries with poor human rights record will not torture freed Guantanamo Bay detainees, RAW STORY has learned. The announcement came the same day the group Human Rights Watch published a report showing that seven ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees of Russian descent have faced torture and other forms of mistreatment since being returned to the Russian Federation in 2004.
The US government is obligated under the Convention Against Torture to not transfer persons to countries where they are likely to face torture. However, the State Department accepts “diplomatic assurances,” official promises that the receiving governments will not subject transferred individuals to abuse.