Street roots., October 16, 2009, Page 9, Image 9

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INTERNATIONAL
TORTURE, fro m page 8
Breaches of medical guidelines during
conflict are not a recent phenomena.
“This is a pervasive problem,” Dr. Nicholl
says. “There have been similar issues in
pretty much every similar conflict, e.g.
Doctors in the Holocaust camps in Nazi
Germany, the role of psychiatrists in
Russian gulags, the doctors in apartheid
South Africa who covered up deaths in
custody to more recent allegations of Israeli
doctors’ role in interrogations. The latter
has led to a call for Dr. Yoram Blachar, the
head of the Israel Medical Association, to»
"This Is a pervasive problem. There have
been sim ilar issues in pretty much every
sim ilar conflict, e.g. Doctors in the Holocaust
camps in Nazi Germany, the role of
psychiatrists in Russian gulags, the doctors
in apartheid South Africa who covered up
deaths in custody to more recent allegations
of Israeli doctors role in interrogations."
— DR. DAVID NICHOLL
B R IT IS H N E Ü R O L O G IS T ,
L E A D IN G O P P O N E N T A G A IN S T P H Y S IC IA N S IN T O R T U R E .
stand down as President of the World
Medical Association (the body that sets
many of the.ethical rules), from over 700
physicians including myself.” 1
The ability of physicians to heal and hide,
makes them a coveted asset to individuals
with torturous agendas. Dr. Steven Miles,,
author of “An Oath Betrayed: America’s
Torture Doctors” and medical ethics expert,
highlights that medical professionals are
uruquelyplaced.toconeeal torture and as •
such they come under increased pressure to
participate while facing limited
repercussions.
“The medical profession is essential to
the modern practice of torture,” Miles says.
“Globally, about half of torture survivors
report that a physician supervised their
torture. Today torture regimes need
physicians to design methods to minimize
scars and to conceal the causes of death of
those who die. Sanctions against physicians
for complicity with torture are rare and the
medical associations are only recently
getting involved.”
Dr. Miles is currently leading an
international study exploring the
punishment of physicians who have assisted
. torture with the results expected later in
^.the year: Previous research and first-hand
interviews with former prisoners has led Dr,
Miles to conclude that physicians have
e _
remained silent while prisoners were
tortured by American servicemen. Medical >
staff also provided information that enabled
interrogators to determine how far victims
could be physically abused while others
denied prisoners prosthetic limbs and
.antibiotics for festering wounds.
As with Guantanamo, the problem
victims, investigators and human rights
organizations face is establishing the scale'
of the problem and finding solid evidence.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a non­
profit organization which promotes the right
to health for all, has been fighting to expose
these practices since the allegations of
torture at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq and at
Guantanamo Bay became public.
The “U.S. Health Professionals’ Call to
Prevent Torture and Abuse of Detainees in
U.S. Custody”, which has been signed by .
-more than 1200 physicians, psychologists,
and others nationwide, reaffirmed the
health profession’s commitment against
abusive interrogation methods and called for
full and transparent investigations of abusive
interrogation practices. The Obama
. administration has taken .steps toward.,
greater transparency, but more action is
needed if the individuals responsible for
violating human rights areto be held
accountable and a new precedent set.
Perhaps the most high profile case in
which British doctors were directly involved
in the abuse of a prisoner is that of Baha
Mousa. Mousa died on Sept 13, 2003 in
Basra while under the Custody of British
forces. Dr. Nicholl highlights that the
incident was full of irregularities: “Mousa’s
death certificate cited ‘Cardiorespiratory
arrest-asphyxia’ as the reason for his death.
There was no mention of the clear signs of
trauma as . the result of the severe beating
he sustained whilst under the custody of UK -
troops. One has to question as to why the
pathologist avoided noting these findings.”
The Secretary of State for Defense has
branded, this event a disturbing incident,
“Not just because a man died in the custody.
of British soldiers but because an
investigation by the Royal Military Police
and a subsequent Court Martial highlighted
further-important questions'that needed to
be answered.” The inquiry was established
under the Inquiries Act 2005 and is chaired
by the Right Honourable Sir William Gage, a
retired Court of Appeals judge,
Madni’s case is representative of the
gross violations of human rights that have
become all too common in the War on
Terror. Yet his allegations regarding the
conduct of physicians expose a worrying
erosion of medical morals in the post-9/11
world. It appears that a number of medical
professionals have remained complicit,
some have colluded and a significant
minority have directly participated in
torturous acts. “A proper investigation of
- this involvement needs to be.undertaken
and doctors struck off medical registers,”
concludes Chloe Davies. “Where
appropriate, such individuals should be
prosecuted for their involvement in torture.”
This article was written by Franck M artin
following ah internship with Reprieve, a
■ legal human, rights charity which represents
individuals held in secret prisons a n d on
Death Row across the world. Street News
Service Exclusive © Street News Service:
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