Convention against Torture Essay

Introduction United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT) is a transnational human rights treaty which lies under the review of the United Nations. Its primary objective is preventing cruelty and other deeds of harsh, insensitive, or demeaning treatment and punishments in the whole world. The agreement necessitates states to take practical actions to inhibit torture in territories under their dominion. The treaty also bans states from transporting people to other countries which they are likely to be tortured. United Nations General Assembly first approved this convention in the year 1984, and then it came into force in June 1987. Torture in Islamic perspective is an occurrence when pain and distress are enacted upon a human beings and all other creations of Allah. According to Muslims, all acts of torture inflicted on other people either small or large will be looked into at the Judgment day.

It is through this questioning in Allah’s court of justice in the judgment day that all the Muslim should avoid harming and injuring others for fear that Allah will ruin them. Besides, Islam has forbidden all forms of torture laid on human beings as well as all creations of Allah. Prophet Muhammad sent as “Rahmatul-lil Aalameen” or as the mercy for all that exists, castigated many of his companions in the occasion that they caused pain and suffering to animals and birds. As narrated by Muslim and Al-Bukhari whoever takes care of every living being has a reward from Allah, but those who torture animals will face a severe consequence during the judgment day. Despite all the international agreements on prohibiting torture, there are also many incidences of endless pain of individuals either by their fellow human beings or by organizations as well as a country.

Presently, torture has been used as an enhanced interrogation technique through which a person is arrested and taken to a remote place where he or she is tortured to confess or give out specific information. Allah commands that we should search for uprightness and pity and always act with respect for God since God knows all our doings. (Qur’an 5:8). (Saying): “We feed you seeking Allah’s Countenance only. We wish for no reward, nor thanks from you. ”(Qur’an 76:8-9) Additionally, Islamic law also prohibits torturing of anyone for confessions. In Islam confessions acquired through torturing, individuals are invalid and such information cannot be used against him. According to Mujahidin, another commentator of the Quran prisoners should be taken care of and should be detained until the best decision is made which protects the rights of every human.

The third view is that torture is forbidden to qadis by the judges of the Islamic law, but beatings are permitted to other authorities and rulers. The primary advocate of this outlook was the Shafi'i jurist Al Mawardi, possibly Islam's most prominent political theorizer, who said that leaders and their proxies should be certified to torture suspects to get hold of confessions from "according to the strength of the accusation" (ma'a quwwat al-tuhmah). For us to understand these views, we should, first of all, understand jurist’s roles in shaping and expressing Islamic Law. Furthermore, Islamic law that is, fiqh norms and siyasa applications are products of doctrinal analyses and political claims, and they are neither consistent nor static body of rules.

They are also not affected by the historical background and the political conditions or personal preferences. He also determined the score through studying the constitution of each state and also read official texts and media reports on torture. Moreover, he did a few consultations with embassies and survey using the members of the different large organizations in the United States. He later did a comparison using regression analysis to check the influence of human rights practices in the Islamic States. Price found out that the correlation amongst the protection or violation of human rights and Islamic political culture in Islamic states as being statistically irrelevant. In fact, the highest cases of torture and human rights violation were witnessed in countries which claimed to have Islamic Political culture, for instance, Iran and Saudi Arabia.