United Nations expert slams Trump over stance on torture
GENEVA – A United Nations human rights expert has slammed U.S. President Donald Trump over his view on torture as a useful counter-terrorism measure.
Ben Emmerson, a British lawyer who is a special rapporteur on human rights, said Friday that hearing Trump “extolling the virtues of torture as a weapon in the fight against terrorism” and confirming his willingness to authorize its use had been enough to make his “blood run cold.”
Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Emmerson expressed alarm that the U.S. president would be prepared for reasons of “jingoistic populism” to revive “what is arguably the single greatest act of lawlessness” perpetrated by the administration of George W. Bush.
Trump said in a television interview in January that he believed torture works.
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