BBC
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
A lawyers' group has asked Germany to sue
former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over alleged prisoner
abuse in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
The complaint was filed by the US-based Center for Constitutional
Rights on behalf of a Saudi man held in Cuba and 11 Iraqis held
in Baghdad.
German law allows the pursuit of cases originating anywhere in
the world.
State prosecutors have yet to decide whether to pursue the case.
An earlier request for a case in 2004 was dropped.
Michael Ratner, the centre's president, said he felt the case
had a better chance of success now because Mr Rumsfeld was no
longer in office and could not exert the same degree of "political
pressure".
He added that the centre had more evidence than it did in 2004,
citing the case of a detained Saudi national, Mohamad al-Qahtani.
"Al-Qahtani was a man who the US alleged is al-Qaeda, who
is in Guantanamo and exposed was the entire torture log of al-Qahtani
over a period of two months," Mr Ratner told the BBC.
Resignation
The Center for Constitutional Rights argues that Mr Rumsfeld
was instrumental in abuses committed at Guantanamo Bay and at
Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.
The group of international lawyers alleges that Mr Rumsfeld personally
approved the use of torture to extract information from the prisoners.
Wolfgang Kaleck, the lawyer leading the attempt to bring the
case, said former US Army Brig-Gen Janis Karpinski would be the
"star witness".
Ms Karpinski was commander of US prisons in Iraq when several
prisoners were abused by US soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib facility.
Mr Rumsfeld resigned on Wednesday following Republican losses
to the Democrats in the US mid-term elections.
The US denies any torture has taken place at Guantanamo Bay and
has defended its interrogation techniques.
Abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was brought to world attention
after soldiers' photographs of the incidents were released and
published.
Ten US soldiers have been found guilty of abuses at Baghdad's
Abu Ghraib prison. The US says they were acting without official
sanction.
