{"id":97082,"date":"2017-04-05T22:29:32","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T02:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=97082"},"modified":"2017-04-05T22:29:32","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T02:29:32","slug":"un-human-rights-chief-says-trump-torture-talk-unsettling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/04\/05\/un-human-rights-chief-says-trump-torture-talk-unsettling\/","title":{"rendered":"UN human rights chief says Trump torture talk unsettling"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Zeid<\/a>
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein called torture \u201crepugnant\u201d and \u201cuseless\u201d in a speech to Vanderbilt University Law School students in Tennessee. (Photo: United Nations Human Rights\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASHVILLE \u2013The U.N. human rights chief on Wednesday said he’s \u201camazed\u201d by President Donald Trump’s support of torture in interrogations, calling the prospect of reviving the practice in the United States \u201cprofoundly unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein called torture \u201crepugnant\u201d and \u201cuseless\u201d in a speech to Vanderbilt University Law School students in Tennessee.<\/p>\n

White House officials declined to respond and cited Trump’s previous statements that he’d defer to Defence Secretary James Mattis, who has said he opposes torture.<\/p>\n

Zeid contended that the embrace of torture often appears to stem from anger and fear, and he directed criticisms at populist leaders like Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been amazed by the President’s openly voiced personal support for torture,\u201d Zeid said. \u201cThe prospect that torture, or some airbrushed version of it, could be revived in this country, potentially in response to some future terrorist outrage, is profoundly unsettling.<\/p>\n

Before the election, Zeid said Trump would be \u201cdangerous from an international point of view\u201d and said he’s among the \u201cpopulists and demagogues\u201d whose tactics of communication resemble Islamic State group-style propaganda.<\/p>\n

\u201cPopulists are using words to paint images of hordes of rapacious outsiders stealing jobs, engaged in crime and sowing terror; stories with clear villains and easy fixes,\u201d Zeid said Wednesday. \u201cThese are dangerous fabrications.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president has said he believes torture works.<\/p>\n

In an interview with ABC News in January, Trump said he would wage war against Islamic State militants with the goal of keeping the U.S. safe. Asked about the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding, Trump cited the extremist group’s atrocities against Christians and others and said: \u201cWe have to fight fire with fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the discussion at Vanderbilt’s law school, Zeid also said the latest \u201cbarbaric\u201d chemical attack that killed dozens of people in Syria highlights the significance of his push to investigate international crimes committed in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have these outrages and attacks on civilians, in the end, they demand justice,\u201d Zeid told The Associated Press. \u201cAnd we know that it’s unlikely for there to be a durable peace in Syria unless those who have committed these outrages, these horrific crimes, are brought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeid’s cousin, King Abdullah II of Jordan, met with Trump in Washington on Wednesday. Trump laid blame for the attack on Syrian President Bashar Assad, but did not say what the U.S. might do in response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASHVILLE \u2013The U.N. human rights chief on Wednesday said he’s \u201camazed\u201d by President Donald Trump’s support of torture in interrogations, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":97088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[14087,17574,17573,12977],"class_list":["post-97082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-torture","tag-u-n-human-rights-chief","tag-zeid-raad-al-hussein","mauthors-jonathan-mattise","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}