{"id":2607,"date":"2007-10-23T17:56:38","date_gmt":"2007-10-23T22:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2007-10-24T07:09:05","modified_gmt":"2007-10-24T12:09:05","slug":"torture-the-san-francisco-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=2607","title":{"rendered":"Torture & The San Francisco 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kiilu Nyasha
\nOctober 22, 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNo one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

– \u00adThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5 (1948)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear to everyone paying attention these days that the U.S. Government sanctions the use of torture, despite continued denials made by President Bush, like, \u201cWe do not torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evidence is overwhelming both here in U.S. prisons and rendition abroad at so-called Black Sites (secret prisons) that captured individuals are severely tortured. Of course the word torture<\/em> is never used. Instead, tortures such as waterboarding, stress positions, and other brutalities, humiliations are said to be \u201cenhanced interrogation techniques<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In fact, the Department of Justice authorized the use of extreme interrogation techniques<\/a> not only in 2002 and 2003, but twice more in 2005. And the infamous \u201ctorture memo\u201d<\/em> written by White House legal counsel, John Yoo, stated that no interrogation tactics were illegal unless they produced pain equivalent to organ failure or \u201ceven death.\u201d Another memo produced at the same time detailed how such practices would be applied, how often and how long.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m quite sure, however, that it doesn\u2019t take DOJ authorization for the CIA, FBI, and local police to feel confident that they\u2019ll suffer no consequences for their torture of prisoners deemed terrorists or enemy combatants, labels applied to freedom fighters.<\/em><\/p>\n

The exception, of course, was the court martial of low-ranking U.S. military guards for the most egregious, abhorrent tortures at Abu-Graib prison in Iraq \u2013 once there was an international outcry following widespread dissemination of explicit photographs. Yet no one in position of authority was prosecuted.<\/p>\n

Who raised any hell about the brutal torture and interrogation of three Black Panthers in New Orleans in 1973, namely: John Bowman, Harold Taylor, and Ruben Scott? Scott is a broken man; JB suffered pain and injury until his premature death in 2006; and Harold Taylor continues to suffer from physical pain, PTSD, and nightmares to this day. Has anyone been held accountable or suffered any consequences for their torture and injuries?<\/p>\n

Hell no! In fact, the two San Francisco detectives, McCoy and Erdelatz, who conducted the interrogations and subjected these brothers to the vicious brutal tortures in New Orleans have since become Federal agents authorized to arrest and charge these elders all over again. In 1973, they tortured them into signing confessions of guilt (which they all later recanted) in the now 36-year-old case of the shooting of police officer, Sgt. John Young at the Ingleside Station in San Francisco, August 28, 1971.<\/p>\n

On October 10, before a packed courtroom, Judge Philip Moscone denied Harold Taylor\u2019s motion for collateral estoppel presented by his attorney, Randy Montesano. That\u2019s a legal term that asks the court to honor prior decisions by judges on the same issue. In this case, two courts had refused to admit confessions rendered under torture. In fact, a San Francisco judge threw these same charges out in 1975. Att. Montesano noted what a waste of resources it is to do it all over again, forcing Taylor, still suffering the ill effects of the torture, to \u201crelive those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Moscone\u2019s decision was based on the prosecution\u2019s assertion that the 1974 Los Angeles proceedings (involving Harold Taylor) were pre-trial hearings and not final adjudication. However, the judge did leave the door open for the defense attorneys to enter a motion to suppress (the coerced statements) at future hearings.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Richard Brown, one of the six defendants out on bail, he said, \u201cBased upon three rulings that we\u2019ve had already, including the Supreme Court, those forced confessions will be suppressed\u2026and I\u2019m very, very happy to say that he [Moscone] seems to be a judge. He doesn\u2019t seem to be politically motivated or intimidated by anything or anyone\u2026it appears as though he\u2019s going to judge the case based on the merit of the case, the evidence; and that\u2019s what we\u2019re all hoping for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next hearing is scheduled for Monday, December 3, when issues of discovery and the sealing of prejudicial documents will be litigated.<\/p>\n

Be sure to encourage all your friends to help us pack the courtroom, as we\u2019re quite sure that your continued presence and support are what made it possible for Richard Brown, Richard O\u2019Neal, Ray Boudreaux, Hank Jones, Harold Taylor, and Francisco Torres to be released on bail, and return home to their families.<\/p>\n

Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim (Bottom) remain in solitary confinement with no-contact visits at the San Francisco County Jail. Please write to them and learn more about the frameup that has kept them incarcerated in New York State prisons for 34 and 36 years respectively.
\nhttp:\/\/www.kersplebedeb.com\/mystuff\/profiles\/ny3.html<\/a><\/p>\n

For past articles and updates on this case, go to www.freethesf8.org<\/a> or www.sfbayview.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Power to the people.
\nFree \u2018em all.<\/p>\n

\n

Please support these brothers by sending a donation. Make checks payable to CDHR\/Agape and mail to the address below or donate online: www.freethesf8.org\/donate.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR)
\nPO Box 90221
\nPasadena, CA 91109
\n(415) 226-1120
\nFreetheSF8@riseup.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kiilu Nyasha October 22, 2007 \u201cNo one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.\u201d – \u00adThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5 (1948) It\u2019s clear to everyone paying attention these days … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdXTf-G3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}