Amnesty Warns Germany Against Downplaying Torture

Human rights organization Amnesty International (ai) has warned against playing down practices like torture in Germany. Speaking after presenting the annual ai report on Wednesday, Barbara Lochbihler, general secretary of the German chapter of ai, said torture is an "absolute taboo in our country where the rule of law prevails." Lochbihler pointed to a case in Frankfurt in September 2002, where the son of a prominent banker was kidnapped and murdered. It emerged that Frankfurt police president Wolfgang Daschner had threatened the suspect, who was later sentenced for murder, with violence if he failed to tell where his victim was hidden. Recently, a professor with the German armed forces sparked an outcry because he described torture as a legitimate instrument in the war against terrorism.