Ethics

US Prosecutes for Torture

By Ed Brayton

Glenn Greenwald points out that the US is currently prosecuting the son of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor for - guess what? - torture. And the government is demanding a 147-year sentence for the accused.

U.S. prosecutors want a Miami judge to sentence the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor to 147 years in prison for torturing people when he was chief of a brutal paramilitary unit during his father's reign.

Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr. is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 9 by U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga. His conviction was the first use of a 1994 law allowing prosecution in the U.S. for acts of torture committed overseas.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on January 05, 2009 (boomark / email).