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US blacks face daily ‘criminal assault’ by police: Activist

Monday, 11 May 2015 5:46 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 11 May 2015 6:54 PM ]

African Americans are facing a “tremendous violation of their human and civil rights,” Mustafa Ansari told Press TV on Monday.

Law enforcement officers in the United States are committing “criminal assault” against black people on a daily basis that violate international laws, a human rights activist and international lawyer in Atlanta says.

African Americans are facing a “tremendous violation of their human and civil rights,” Mustafa Ansari told Press TV on Monday.

“We have found in many, many cases that the police do not even investigate police killings, therefore there is not a case ever filed,” Ansari said.

According to a recent analysis by The Washington Post and researchers at Bowling Green State University, just 54 officers were charged in the past decade for fatally shooting someone while on duty.

Large-scale protests have been triggered around the country against police brutality and racial injustice in the past year.

“We are facing a criminal assault on our lives daily that violate the UN principles on extra-judicial killing by law enforcement,” Ansari said.

“US police departments violate UN international standards of policing and we are preparing a national action against all the police departments in the International Court,” he added.

The United States was criticized by the United Nations on Monday for widespread police brutality, CIA interrogation practices, the ongoing detentions at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and surveillance operations by the National Security Agency (NSA).

The US delegation defended the country’s human rights records before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, while admitting that progress needs to be made.

US Justice Department official James Cadogan cited a number of recent high-profile cases involving police killing of unarmed black men, saying the US must do better to uphold civil rights.

"We must rededicate ourselves to ensuring that our civil rights laws live up to their promise," Cadogan said Monday.

"The tragic deaths of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Michael Brown in Missouri, Eric Garner in New York, Tamir Rice in Ohio, and Walter Scott in South Carolina have... challenged us to do better and to work harder for progress," he stated.

AHT/HRJ

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