For the past four years, people have been up in arms about Amanda Knox, pretty and white, detained in a scary Italian women’s prison. Having studied abroad (in a country where I was told not to call the police if anything happened to me), I don’t for one second doubt the terror of being arrested in a foreign country and facing an alien legal process. I think it’s worth noting, however, that for every Amanda Knox there is a foreign citizen detained in the American justice system, equally overwhelmed and isolated.
An article in Foreign Policy points out that when the United States complained to the Iranian government that the detained border-hikers weren’t allowed access to a consulate, the Iranian government responded that there are at least 60 Iranians detained in the US, many of whom were also denied access to a consulate. The right to meet with your country’s consulate when detained abroad is guaranteed in the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, or VCCR. While the US hasn’t operated a consulate in Iran since the 1980 hostage crisis, the Swiss consulate operates as the “surrogate consulate for the U.S.” The Iranian government pointed specifically to the case of Shahrzad Mir Gholikhan, an Iranian woman arrested for violated export-control laws, who “has been in U.S. custody for nearly four years on espionage-related charges, and at no time has she been permitted either consular access or a meeting with her family.”
If you aren’t already feeling the hypocrisy, don’t worry, it gets worse. The Death Penalty Information Center cites that since 1976 twenty-seven foreign nationals from 15 different countries have been executed in the US without full compliance with the VCCR. Further, there are at least 135 individuals from 34 countries currently on death row in the US, most of whom have claimed a violation of the VCCR. And those are only cases punishable by death.
This doesn’t mean that it’s any less scary for a US national to be detained abroad, or that it’s acceptable. It’s not like a detained foreign national balances it out. But next time you hear someone trashing the Italian/Iranian/foreign justice system for its treatment of an American, you might want to point out that we’re living in a glass house.
Yes, but who “overseas” the interns?
Very true, but what’s “pretty and white” got to do with it? Was she not as deserving of sympathy as these other people?
Plus, really, some were up in arms, but an equal number seemed to get off on gleefully insisting on her guilt (including some of your coworkers, obviously).
You don’t understand. If the US doesn’t violate as many human rights as possible, the terrorists will have won.
Thanks for this article. Incredibly informative.
but…. the key difference is what the people are imprisoned for. Being arrested for murder/arms dealing/narcotics smuggling/fatal DUI is far different than being arrested for wandering too close to an unmarked border and being held as a trophy for political points.
I completely agree that the US needs to abide by these treaties but your comparison is still a little weak.
Do as we say, not as we do. Disgusting.
Awesome reporting News Intern. Keep it up.
Yes! Exactly.
I studied abroad. I didn’t get arrested because I didn’t do anything dumb, knowing that if I did it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience. Obviously, some people are going to have bad luck but I’m pretty sure that guy in Nicaragua could have avoided his jail time if he’d avoided drugs. And Amanda Knox probably could have made some less shady friends.
We used to be able to be proud of this country and the ideals of freedom that it seemed to stand for. Now we do all the bad things we were told about other countries when I was a kid. 🙁
Shouldn’t interns who read Foreign Policy magazine and comment intelligently on it be paid?
This is very interesting, but the glass house may still be nicer inside(legitimate charges, living conditions, etc…), and maybe more a a house with lots of windows. that doesn’t sound as nice, though.
those who live in houses with lots of windows shouldn’t throw stones.
@9, Are you serious? I’m sorry you had such a naive view of our history and ideals but it’s hard to ignore the fact that we used to be a slave owning nation that had also wiped out an indigenous people. The founders of this country had some good ideas, but they were built on a foundation of some truly horrible acts. It’s also not like we haven’t been blowing up brown people regularly for a long long time.
Since when did an Italian women’s prison become scarier than a general women’s prison?