(10 Apr 2002) 1. Wide view of news conference 2. Cutaway reporters 3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr William Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA "Since the tragic events of September 11, the US government has been waging war against those it suspects of committing or plotting to commit heinous human rights crimes. Our government quickly rounded up some 1,200 immigrants to the U-S and, though none of them have been charged in the attacks, many are still being held in custody. And yet our government knows that hundreds of foreign nationals suspected of committing brutal crimes such as torture are living freely on U-S soil - and it has failed to criminally prosecute a single one of them for their crimes." 4. Wide view of news conference 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr William Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA: "The United States has become a safe haven for torturers. For the US government has never criminally prosecuted any of them for torture and that is outrageous and indefensible. Those who torture and murdered in other countries should not be able to evade justice and live in America without fear of arrest or prosecution. " 6. Pan view from sign to Schulz 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr William Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA "Mederos is alleged to have tortured Cuban political prisoners in the 1970s by applying electroshock to unanaesthetised patients lying on a bare floor covered in their urine and feces. The INS arrested Mederos last September after a federal grand jury indicted him - not for torture but on charges of having fraudulently obtained US citizenship by denying that he had ever persecuted anyone." 8. Mid view of Anderson Kohatsu photograph 9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr William Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA "Anderson Kohatsu came to Washington two years ago to testify, ironically, on behalf of Peru before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Human rights groups alerted the Justice Department about his presence in the U-S and federal agents boarded his plane during a stopover in Houston on his way home. Anderson Kohatsu agreed to submit to questioning, but the State Department, over Justice Department objections, intervened and ordered that he be released and allowed to return home on the grounds that he had diplomatic immunity." 10. Close-up front cover of report STORYLINE: The Human Rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday released a new report slamming the United States as a safe haven for torturers. Amnesty USA Director William Schulz said the U-S government knows of hundreds of foreign nationals living freely on U-S soil who are suspected of committing serious human rights abuses. Schulz also said the U-S government has failed to criminally prosecute a single one for their crimes - despite being a party ot the Convention Against Torture, which requires governments to take into custody anyone in their territories alleged to have committed torture and either prosecute or extradite the alleged offender to face prosecution in another country. He went on to cite examples of individuals alleged to have escaped prosecution despite their violent crimes. Amnesty International also claimed the U-S government has allowed politics to prevail over justice. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4698460cbd16f493c9cd20c214ecb2ab

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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