Amnesty warns over 9/11 'abuses'

Amnesty attacked the U.S. over its treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

LONDON, England -- The UK and United States have used the September 11 attacks as an excuse to "ride roughshod" over human rights, Amnesty International says.

The group says emergency legislation imposed after the attack was an assault on the pillars of human rights such as the Geneva Convention, the rights of refugees, and the right to a fair trial.

Fears over national security and the drive for an international coalition against terrorism, with the UK and U.S. at the helm, has led to "hypocrisy, selectivity and double standards", said Irene Khan, Amnesty International general secretary.

Launching the organisation's annual report in London, she said: "They have created a shadow criminal justice system that deliberately goes around the principles of human rights with great secrecy and that is very dangerous."

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The organisation said it had been surprised by the "global consistency" with which human rights had been abused after September 11 spurred on by security fears. It has the effect of making human rights work more difficult for campaigners, they said.

The UK along with India, Jordan and South Africa have imposed laws which restrict people's rights to assemble, to a fair trial and which also approve "arbitrary detention," according to the report.

The UK's Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act allowed for foreign nationals to be detained indefinitely without charge or trial.

The UK's stance in stepping back from the European Convention on Human Rights in this way was a "pretty severe measure to take and one that is unparalleled in Europe," Khan said.

In refusing to accept that human rights and national security can be compatible, democracies such as the UK and the U.S. have helped curb civil liberties nationally and foster a "racist backlash" internationally, she said.

She said Australia had "exploited the security hype" in order to turn refugees away.

China had also used September 11 to clamp down on legitimate dissent, she added.

Amnesty International attacked the U.S. over its treatment of prisoners of the Afghanistan conflict held at Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

They were entitled to prisoner of war status under the Geneva Convention and if the U.S. did not believe this then the arguments should be tested by the relevant law, Khan said.

The report outlines human rights violations in 152 countries.

As usual, civil strive in Africa led to abuses including thousands of unarmed civilians suffering torture, kidnapping, murder and illegal arrests by both governments and armed opposition groups.

The report said 300 people had "disappeared" in Colombia and there were 4,000 civilian deaths. Ill-treatment was also chronicled in several other South American countries.

In Asia human rights violations were outlined in China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, among others.

The Middle East crisis had also caused a surge of abuses there, Amnesty reported.

It also listed 21 countries where human rights progress had been made, including Tibet, Angola and Cuba.