International human-rights organization Amnesty International has added its muscle to the cases of two men who have claimed that Chicago police officers gay-bashed them in separate incidents last year.
"These assaults, as they are described, constitute torture, and are violations of international human-rights law," said Nancy Bothne, director of Amnesty's Midwest office. "Mr. Mason and Mr. Lyons have been subjected to inhuman crimes in the city of Chicago."
Bothne went on to call for independent and impartial investigations of the incidents.
Both victims, Frederick Mason Jr. and Jeffrey Lyons, have filed civil suits against the city and the officers involved in the attacks.
Police have said they have no evidence to sustain Mason's allegations that an officer sodomized him in a department interview room last July.
Mason, a gay African-American man with no criminal record, was brought to a police station after an argument with his landlord. Charges against him were dropped when his landlord refused to press charges.
Standish Willis, Mason's attorney, said this week that Mason's legal team has medical evidence to prove the attack took place just as Mason has described.
Meanwhile, police spokesman David Bayless told the Chicago Sun-Times last week that an internal police probe by the Office of Professional Standards has sustained Lyons' complaints against two officers. According to the paper, officials will review the report and recommend to Police Supt. Terry Hillard whether to discipline the officers.
Lyons, who is straight, was allegedly beaten by eight off-duty officers last November after they saw him hug a friend outside a Northwest side bar.
Just before the attack, one officer reportedly said to Lyons, "Get that faggot shit away from my truck."
Lyons sustained cuts, bruises, a broken nose and a fractured cheekbone in the attack.
At a press conference last Tuesday attended by Mason, Lyons and civil-rights and religious leaders from across the city, Amnesty released its report on the two attacks entitled Allegations of homophobic abuse by Chicago police officers.
Amnesty has issued an Action Alert in the wake of the report, and thousands of members worldwide are expected to contact the Chicago police department and Mayor Daley's office.
Willis, Mason's attorney, criticized the investigation into his clients' case and called for the formation of a Civilian Control Board to review cases of police abuse.
Saying that the current review panel, the Office of Professional Standards, is too closely tied to the department, he said, "So if you get beat up by the police, you go to the police to complain. That doesn't make any sense."
Both Willis and Timothy Cavenagh, Lyons' attorney, have accused police of attempting to cover up the incidents, and they also had harsh words for the city and county, including Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine and Mayor Daley.
The Chicago Anti-Bashing Network, who enlisted Amnesty's help, was thrilled to have the human rights powerhouse on board.
"We're extremely gratified that Amnesty International is taking the lead in this case," said Andy Thayer, co-founder of CABN. "The spotlight of the world is on police brutality in the city of Chicago."
