<HTML>Die angesehene, weltweit verbreitete Wissenschafts- und Technologie Zeitschrift Newscientist berichtet in ihrer neuesten Ausgabe über eine Reihe von neuen Elektro-Waffen, die lähmen und foltern. Diese können sowohl gegen einzelne Personen als auch gegen Gruppen gerichtet werden und haben teilweise eine große Reichweite. Das Internationale Rote Kreuz, Menschenrechtsgruppen und Amnesty International befürchten Folter und schwere Verletzungen. Sie fordern unabhängige Untersuchungen und Kontrolle.
Sweeping stun guns to target crowds
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition (16 June 04)
[
www.newscientist.com]
Auszüge:
Weapons that can incapacitate crowds of people by sweeping a lightning-like beam of electricity across them are being readied for sale to military and police forces in the US and Europe. At present, commercial stun guns target one person at a time, and work only at close quarters. The new breed of non-lethal weapons can be used on many people at once and operate over far greater distances. But human rights groups are appalled by the fact that no independent safety tests have been carried out, and by their potential for indiscriminate use…
"We will be able to fire a stream of electricity like water out of a hose at one or many targets in a single sweep," claims XADS president Peter Bitar.
Instrument of torture
HSV Technologies of San Diego, California is also working on stun and vehicle-stopping shock weapons with ranges of over 100 metres. And another company, Ionatron of Tuscon, Arizona, is due to supply a prototype wireless vehicle-mounted weapon to the US Department of Defense by the end of 2004. But the advent of wireless stun weapons has horrified human rights groups. Robin Coupland of the Red Cross says they risk becoming a new instrument of torture. And Brian Wood of Amnesty International says the long-range stun guns could "inflict pain and other suffering on innocent bystanders."</HTML>
