GENEVA — US presidential candidate Donald Trump would be “dangerous from an international point of view” if he is elected, the UN human rights chief said on Wednesday.
Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein says some comments by the Republican nominee are “deeply unsettling and disturbing,” particularly on torture and about “vulnerable people.”
Zeid, a Jordanian prince, also told reporters he doesn’t plan to tone down his recent remarks decrying dangers posed by “populists and demagogues.”
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations has said Zeid shouldn’t criticize foreign heads of state and government.
On the US election, Zeid said: “If Donald Trump is elected, on the basis of what he has said already and unless that changes, I think it’s without any doubt that he would be dangerous from an international point of view.”
“Clearly I am not keen or intent on interfering in any political campaign within any particular country, but where the comments point to a potential — depending on the results of the election — for an increase in, for instance, the use of torture, which is prohibited under the Convention against Torture, or the focus on vulnerable people in a way that suggests that they may well be deprived of their rights, their human rights, then I think it is incumbent to say so,” Zeid said.
“Many of Mr. Trump’s comments are in that direction are deeply unsettling and disturbing to me” and in the human rights office, Zeid said.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton’s top adviser said on Tuesday that the FBI is investigating Russia’s possible role in hacking thousands of his personal emails, an intrusion he said Donald Trump’s campaign may have been aware of in advance.
If true, the assertion from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta would amount to an extraordinary link between Russia and an American presidential campaign. Podesta said the alleged ties could be driven either by Trump’s policy positions, which at times echo the Kremlin, or the Republican’s “deep engagement and ties with Russian interests in his business affairs.”
To Podesta, the central figure in the swirling controversy is longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, who has said he has been in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Podesta also raised as evidence an August tweet in which Stone said Podesta’s “time in the barrel” was coming. The tweet was sent shortly after WikiLeaks published scores of hacked emails from other Democratic officials.
“I think it’s a reasonable assumption, or at least a reasonable conclusion, that Mr. Stone and the Trump campaign had advance warning about what Assange was going to do,” Podesta told reporters aboard the Clinton campaign plane. Podesta acknowledged the evidence was “circumstantial.”
Stone, in an email to The Associated Press late Tuesday, said Podesta’s accusations were “categorically false” and “without foundation.”
Podesta said the FBI contacted him over the weekend and confirmed it was investigating the hacking of his account as part of the ongoing probe in other Democratic Party hackings by groups with Russian ties.
Last week, intelligence officials said they believed the individuals responsible are working for Russian intelligence and coordinating with Assange on the political hacking.
