torture by proxy

{{Short description|Collusion by one government in the abuse of prisoners by another}}

{{use dmy dates |date=December 2022}}

Torture by proxy is collusion by one government in the abuse of prisoners by another. The United States has rendered prisoners to nations known to practice torture.U.S. Torture-by-proxy

• {{cite magazine |author=Jane Mayer |author-link=Jane Mayer |title=Outsourcing torture |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/02/14/outsourcing-torture |magazine=The New Yorker |date=Feb 14, 2005 |access-date=2014-10-26 }}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/02/terrorism.humanrights |title=British detainee's tale of US 'torture by proxy' |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2 August 2005 |first=Ian |last=Cobain |first2=Stephen |last2=Grey |access-date=June 15, 2015 }} In the case of the United Kingdom, the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair is alleged to have colluded in the torture of prisoners by Libya.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

The frequency with which the US government has chosen to employ the practice of transferring prisoners to countries that practice torture has fluctuated from one administration to the next. Before the September 11 attacks, renditions to countries that practice torture were sporadic and ad hoc.{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-11-ed-torture11-story.html |title=Torture by Proxy |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 11, 2005 |access-date=June 16, 2015}} Afterwards, the Bush administration created a dedicated rendition bureaucracy and streamlined procedures which radically expanded abductions for torture by proxy, most commonly sending victims to be abused in Egypt, sometimes to Syria and Morocco. Despite protestations that it does not condone torture, recently the Obama administration has been accused of transferring prisoners to face brutal treatment in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia.{{cite web |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/06/senate-votes-to-ban-torture-will-it-stick-this-time.html |title=Senate votes to ban torture: Will It Stick This Time? |newspaper=Slate.com |date= June 16, 2015 |first=Joshua |last=Keating |access-date= June 16, 2015}}

Colluding governments use proxy torturers in order to support the deception that they have no knowledge of, or participation in, torture.{{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Grey |title=Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wje867ni7csC&pg=PA11 |date=17 October 2006 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-1-4299-1957-9 |pages=11–}}