Report: Afghan Prison Abuse Began in 2002
Human Rights Watch reports that abuse of Afghan prisoners dates back to at least December, 2002 when two detainees were killed by U.S. troops:
Unreleased U.S. Army reports detailing the deaths of two Afghan men who were beaten to death by American soldiers show that military prison abuses began in Afghanistan in 2002, and were part of a systematic pattern of mistreatment, a human rights representative said Saturday.
More than two dozen American soldiers face possible criminal prosecution - and one already is charged with manslaughter - in the deaths at the main U.S. detention facility in Bagram, just north of the Afghan capital of Kabul.
HRW has obtained 20 pages of Army reports that had been heavily edited when released to the ACLU pursuant to its FOIA report. HRW's researcher says:
"The Bush Administration and the Pentagon describe the abuse problems as isolated incidents, not systematic, not part of a plan. The evidence shows otherwise," Sifton said. "Far from being isolated incidents, these beatings were part of a pattern of abuse."
At least one site reported this in December, 2002. [More here and here.]We noted the deaths in March, 2003, and asked, why were they then just coming to light?
The men died shortly after arriving at Bagram air base north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. The first man died December 3 of a pulmonary embolism and the second one December 10 of a heart attack. Autopsies found that "blunt force trauma" was a contributing factor in both cases, military sources said.
George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley also wrote about the deaths in March, 2003 and alleged that Bagram was a torture facility
For months, international human rights groups have been protesting activities at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. In a closed-off part of the base, the CIA has constructed an "interrogation center" out of metal shipping containers. Last year, reports began to surface that the CIA was getting information the old-fashioned way -- by breaking suspects physically, except when they inconveniently die.
It wasn't just Bagram back then either. As we wrote here , the New York Times reported extensively in "Questioning Terror Suspects in a Dark and Surreal World."
A week later, still in March, 2003, two released Afghan prisoners reported being tortured at Bagram. Amnesty International and the Lawyers Committee on Human Rights (now Human Rights First )voiced complaints in November, 2003.
| < Report on Mistreatment of Muslims at U.S. Prison | Who Pays DeLay's Legal Fees? > |
