US Afghan Detainees Sent to Torture
Prisons: Mandates And Recommendations Won't Stop It
21 March 2012
By Stephen Lendman
Post-9/11, torture became official US policy. Bush
officials mandated it. Obama continues it in US
overseas prisons and foreign ones, including in
Afghanistan.
Even the Army Times noticed. On March 18, it headlined
"US sent detainees to banned prisons," saying:
A report by two human rights groups revealed the
practice continues "despite an announced moratorium on
such moves." More on their report below.
The New York Times also covered the story in an
article headlined, "Groups Report on the Continued
Transfer of Detainees to Afghan Prisons," saying:
Following months of investigations, evidence shows
American agencies "abett(ed) torture," besides
committing it at US run prisons like Bagram,
Guantanamo, and numerous black sites. It's one of many
American dirty secrets.
While "not groundbreaking," the new report increases
the body of evidence "uncovered last year by the
United Nations, and highlights the continuing
challenge of trying to end the abuse."
Documented cases examined captured US detainees
transferred to Afghan facilities known to commit
torture. transfers continued after doing so was
supposed to stop.
Evidence also suggests US personnel, perhaps including
CIA and/or other intelligence officials are involved.
US embassy spokesman Gavin Sundwall withheld comment,
saying he hadn't seen the report.
He doesn't need it to know what's happening. It's been
longstanding since America showed up. Other reports
documented egregious abuses at Bagram and other US
torture prisons.
"Torture, Transfers, and Denial of Due Process: The
Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in
Afghanistan"
On March 17, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights
Commission (AIHRC) and Open Society Foundations (OSF)
released their detailed 67-page report.
It covered:
•detainee torture and mistreatment;
•international detainee transfers, monitoring, and
joint operations;
•torture and mistreatment by Afghanistan's National
Directorate of Security (NDS);
•due process violations;
•accountability and transparency; and
•recommendations for reforming the system.
In recent months, Afghanistan's NDS was criticized for
torturing and abusing detainees. AIHRC and OSF raised
new concerns. They include "previously undocumented
facilities where torture is taking place and the abuse
of detainees transferred by international forces."
Finding are based on long-term monitoring and over 100
detainee interviews. Afghanistan's Constitution
mandates it.
"Researchers found credible evidence of torture at
nine NDS facilities and several Afghan National Police
(ANP) facilities."
They include beatings, suspension from ceilings,
electric shocks, threatened or actual sexual abuse,
and other physical or psychological ill-treatment used
to forcibly extract confessions.
Due process is also denied, including the right to
counsel, family notification, and other practices
denying detainees fundamental rights.
"In response to a 2011 UN report, International
Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) suspended all
detainee transfers to facilities of concern."
Problems were addressed, and a monitoring system
proposed. However, AIHRC and OSF raised troubling
questions, including off-site abuse and detainees'
fear that reprisals will follow disclosures. It shows
more needs to be done to stop lawless practices and
protect them.
US forces outside ISAF's chain of command lack
monitoring entirely. America hasn't established a
system for detainees transferred to Afghan custody.
As a result, "(r)esearchers found credible evidence
that some US-transferred detainees have been subjected
to torture by Afghan officials."
Ten cases were documented from May 2010 through
January 2012. They suggest many other similar ones and
a pattern of continuing systematic abuse.
Four detainees said they were held for some time at a
facility near Bagram. At least three were transferred
to NDS Kandahar after ISAF and US forces suspended
transfers there.
"These cases raise serious concerns regarding US
policies on detainee transfers, particularly (those)
by non-ISAF US forces and US special operations
forces."
They include whether appropriate safeguards protected
detainees and if America's complicit in torture. The
Afghan government established a human rights unit,
responded positively to demands for greater access to
detention facilities, but thus far "largely failed to
hold individuals responsible for detainee abuse
accountable."
In some cases, the government reassigned culpable
officials elsewhere to commit similar abuses. In
addition, AIHRC monitors face challenges accessing NDS
facilities, including its Kabul-based Counterterrorism
Department 124 (formerly Department 90).
Whatever challenges Afghanistan's government faces,
international law is inviolable. Torture is prohibited
at all times, under all conditions, with no allowed
exceptions. Authorities are responsible for enforcing
it and holding violators accountable. Evidence shows
they're not doing it. US officials are culpable. As a
result, detainee torture continues.
Key AIHRC and OSF recommendations include:
•investigate credibly and hold those culpable
accountable;
•assure AIHRC has unrestricted access to all NDS
facilities and detainees in them;
•provide the NDS Human Rights Unit full authority to
investigate abuses and ability to hold those
responsible accountable;
•stop holding detainees incommunicado, and notify
family members promptly when arrests are made;
•ensure defense lawyers have access to detainees at
all NDS facilities;
•assure detainees aren't sent to facilities known to
commit torture; and
•require US authorities to ensure detainees aren't
tortured, transfer policies are observed, and
international law obeyed.
Washington long ago spurned US and international law.
As a result, once the dust settles, expect torture and
other detainee abuse to continue. It's gone on for
over a decade in Afghanistan alone.
Mandates and recommendations won't stop it. Washington
makes its own everywhere it controls at home and
abroad, especially in war theaters.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog
site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on
the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive
Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and
Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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