UN Asks What are You Going to do About it? Chicago Police Torture Probe doesn't go far enough

A four-year investigation into allegations of torture at the Chicago Police Department needs to go further, a UN anti-torture panel said today, calling on the United States to ensure punishment for law enforcement officials who mistreated suspects. A report by the UN Committee Against Torture said the multimillion-dollar investigation into the alleged torture of 192 black men in interrogation rooms during the 1970s and 1980s was "limited" and not yet led to any prosecutions. The UN committee says the United States "should promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate all allegations of acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by law enforcement personnel and bring perpetrators to justice." The committee is a panel of 10 independent experts who review nations' compliance with a 1984 global convention establishing a broad ban on prisoner mistreatment. Fernando Marino Menendez, an expert from Spain who chairs the committee, said the U.S. government needed to provide more information on what it was doing to ensure justice for people claiming to have been tortured by Chicago police. [MORE] and [MORE]

• Pictured above: Fred Hampton Jr., right, son of slain black panther leader Fred Hampton, listens to Joe Roddy, attorney for police officers, talk about a Chicago judges decision Friday, May 12, 2006, to delay the release of a report into allegations of torture by the Chicago police department.