Citing Fear Of Torture, Obama’s Second Cousin Seeks Asylum In US. (d) Authority. But with the onset of war, Isolation was seized by Russian proxy forces. He faces removal to Mexico because of a state drug trafficking conviction. (ii) Appeal of the immigration judge's decision whether removal must be withheld or deferred lies with the Board of Immigration Appeals. Upon review of the asylum officer's negative reasonable fear determination: (1) If the immigration judge concurs with the asylum officer's determination that the alien does not have a reasonable fear of persecution or torture, the case shall be returned to DHS for removal of the alien. An alien will be found to have a credible fear of torture if the alien shows that there is a significant possibility that he or she is eligible for withholding of removal or deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture, pursuant to 8 CFR 208.16 or 208.17. Ten years on, time and distance have not healed the damage that comes from torture. CA7 on CAT, Mexico, Fear of Torture by Zetas: Rivas-Peña v. Sessions. Although not all psychological torture involves the use of physical violence, there is a continuum between psychological torture and physical torture. The two are often used in conjunction with one another and often overlap in practice, with the … There is no actual name for the fear of torture, but the fear of pain is called agliophobia. Most of the official focus seems to be on who made the decision to approve the destruction and not on the underlying issue: the fact that the Bush administration, with the apparent consent of some of the congressional leadership, sanctioned torture. The accounts depicted the object of torture as a hero as opposed to a criminal. Videos and photographs of the humiliation and powerlessness of those tortured could be used as threats to get other detainees to "cooperate" and could even make informants of some detainees to be released - under threat that their "cooperation" or "humiliation" could be exposed. Sexual Assault and Abuse. In the absence of exceptional circumstances, such review shall be conducted by the immigration judge within 10 days of the filing of the Notice of Referral to Immigration Judge with the immigration court. This explanation also makes sense considering the risk that arguably was taken by destroying the tapes: they were relevant to a number of proceedings including the Guantanamo federal cases, criminal trials, the 9/11 commission and a federal freedom of information act case. (2) If the immigration judge finds that the alien has a reasonable fear of persecution or torture, the alien may submit an Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal. The Bush administration can and will weather, as they have before, the fallout and finger pointing from this scandal. The Eye is a very effective mechanism of fear as it strips women from their individuality and eventually causes them to stop thinking. The asylum officer shall create a written record of his or her determination, including a summary of the material facts as stated by the applicant, any additional facts relied on by the officers, and the officer's determination of whether, in light of such facts, the alien has established a reasonable fear of persecution or torture. Fri 14 Dec 2007 14.30 EST As we all now know, the CIA has destroyed hundreds of hours of video tapes of the likely 2002 water torture of three men, allegedly involved with al-Qaida, by its agents. It was formed after American soldiers were imprisoned and brainwashed during the Korean War. Torture was supposed to be a manifestation of the power of the sovereign on the body; it was designed to make the people fear … After 1995, the sweeping definition of changes from 'any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether mental or physical, is intentionally inflicted on a person' to including the terms psychological torture and including examples such as, interrogation techniques range from sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, fear, and humiliation to severe sexual and cultural humiliation and use of threats and phobias to induce fear … That fear has governed numerous actions of the Bush administration regarding the torture program. Nacer Hamani (m), aged 36 . (f) Removal of aliens with no reasonable fear of persecution or torture. Upon issuance of a Final Administrative Removal Order under § 238.1 of this chapter, or notice under § 241.8(b) of this chapter that an alien is subject to removal, an alien described in paragraph (a) of this section shall be referred to an asylum officer for a reasonable fear determination. Former US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld was involved in the torture of Guantanamo detainee Mohamed al-Qahtani, and was likely involved in others. Unlike the Abu Ghraib prison photos, these tapes were apparently only in the possession of the CIA. The alien shall be determined to have a reasonable fear of persecution or torture if the alien establishes a reasonable possibility that he or she would be persecuted on account of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, or a reasonable possibility that he or she would be tortured in the country of removal. A few congressional inquiries and some internal investigations from Congress, possibly a scalp or two of a mid-level official, and that may well be the end of the matter. Nacer Hamani was deported to Algeria from France on 16 October and arrested on arrival. Apart from the ability to shadow out the faces, what are the real chances that someone in al-Qaida would see the tape and be able to identify and track down an agent? However, the chances for public revelation were slim. Psychological torture or mental torture is a type of torture that relies primarily on psychological effects, and only secondarily on any physical harm inflicted. PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/047/2008 12 March 2008 UA 68/08 Fear of torture IRAN Ebrahim Mehrnahad (m), aged 16 Fazlorahman Jahras (m), aged about 16 Abdollah Salarzahi, (m), leading member, Voice of Justice Young People's Society (VJYPS) Laws in most European countries make such violations of the convention against torture a universal crime, prosecutable no matter where the torture occurred or where the torturer resides. At the time of the interview, the asylum officer shall determine that the alien has an understanding of the reasonable fear determination process. It's also about unique culture and identity. Fear of forcible return/ Fear of torture or ill-treatment/ Incommunicado detention. or as informal punishment for assumed support of illegal organizations. During slavery, white male plantation owners, their sons, brothers and other male acquaintances raped Black women without fear of punishment. Now we are seeing the usual Washington scrambling and casting of blame after another serious revelation of torture. Those who are found to have a reasonable fear of persecution or torture are then given an opportunity to seek withholding of removal or deferral of removal before an Immigration Judge. So why, if there was such a fear of prosecution by officials, did they video hundreds of hours of these interrogations in the first place? This seems farfetched. Ashqar says he was imprisoned and beaten by Israeli interrogators in the … The fear of torture, in other words, was not that which was felt by the faint-hearted or even the average person. Yet, orders had been entered in those cases prior to the destruction mandating preservation or release of such information. Fire is enough to make any person or creature panic, and rat torture capitalized on this fear. This also explains why it took so long to destroy the tapes. The alien may be represented by counsel or an accredited representative at the interview, at no expense to the Government, and may present evidence, if available, relevant to the possibility of persecution or torture. The front page scandal we are dealing with is about the destruction of the tapes and not the criminal conduct that underlies them. Fear and Torture. The Military Commission Act of 2006, passed after the destruction of the tapes, forgives past violations of the Geneva conventions by officials involved in the torture program. The asylum officer shall create a summary of the material facts as stated by the applicant. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR), CHAPTER I - DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, PART 208 - PROCEDURES FOR ASYLUM AND WITHHOLDING OF REMOVAL. Ashqar, who was born in the West Bank and came to the U.S. in 1989 on a temporary visa to study at the University of Mississippi, has a credible fear of torture at the hands of Israel, Taurel said. A bi-monthly magazine on the issue of torture. Another explanation for the destruction might be the anger the footage could engender in the Muslim world if they were revealed publicly. The article's assertions resulted from studying "fear conditioning in rats" (521-523), which is ironic considering that rats are Winston's worst fear and an instrument of torture in Orwell's book. (e) Referral to Immigration Judge. Hayden tries to claim otherwise, saying they were not relevant to "any internal, legislative, or judicial inquires." Torture is often used by authoritarian regimes as a means of maintaining control and suppressing dissent. For more blogs in the Liberty and the state series, click here. (a) Jurisdiction. (c) Interview and procedure. Removal of aliens with no reasonable fear of persecution or torture. It is doubtful that anyone would question that waterboarding was torture if the tapes were seen. The fear it generates is very immense and it deals a torture. A “significant possibility” that you can establish in a hearing before an Immigration Judge that you would be subject to torture if returned to your country (see definition of Torture in the Glossary page). The McCain amendment builds into its prohibition on cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment a defense for authorized interrogation practices and those that relied upon "the advice of counsel." UA 83/07 Fear of torture ZIMBABWE Edward Dzeka (m) ] local organisers, General Agriculture Joyce Musoni (f) ] and Plantations Workers' Union Trade unionists Edward Dzeka and Joyce Muwoni have gone into hiding, after threatening phone calls from the police, who want them to come in for questioning about "illegal" trade union activities. If they were just done to insure compliance with guidelines, why not destroy them a short time later? They would have been vivid and compelling example of the violation of laws against torture - laws that in the US carry a life sentence or the death penalty if the victim is killed. UA 273/01 Fear of « disappearance » / Fear of torture 25 October 2001 . If the asylum officer determines that the alien has not established a reasonable fear of persecution or torture, the asylum officer shall inform the alien in writing of the decision and shall inquire whether the alien wishes to have an immigration judge review the negative decision, using the Record of Negative Reasonable Fear Finding and Request for Review by Immigration Judge, on which the alien must indicate whether he or she desires such review. Our policy is against any form of torture and creates a common platform to everyone in Asia and around the globe, to come forward to speak out against torture. For purposes of the screening determination, the bars to eligibility for withholding of removal under section 241(b)(3)(B) of the Act shall not be considered.