WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (AFP): US President George W. Bush's administration tortures detainees in defiance of international law, former US president Jimmy Carter charged Wednesday.
"I don't think it, I know it, certainly," Carter told CNN television when asked if he believed the US administration allowed the use of torture.
Carter rejected Bush's statement last week that the United States does not torture terror suspects.
"That's not an accurate statement, if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored, certainly in the last 60 years, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated," Carter said in the interview.
"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say, 'we don't violate them.' And ... you can make your own definition of torture and say 'we don't violate it,'" said the former Democratic president and Nobel laureate.
Asked if Bush was lying, Carter said: "The president is self- defining what we have done and authorised in the torture of prisoners, yes."
Those who commit torture were violating international law, Carter said.
The White House rejected Carter's comments and reiterated that the administration does not condone torture.
Bush allows torture: Carter
FE Team | Published: October 12, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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