[prisoner-rights] Afghanistan: UN expert denounces abuses in illegal prisons

AFGHANISTAN: UN EXPERT DENOUNCES ABUSES IN ILLEGAL PRISONS
New York, Aug 23 2004 12:00AM

A United Nations Independent Expert on Afghanistan is denouncing abuses
taking place at an illegal jail there, and seeking answers from the United
States on getting the prisoners released.

Briefing reporters in Kabul on Saturday, Professor Cherif Bassiouni
referred to a group of 725 out of some 3,200 persons originally detained
by the Northern alliance -- "and apparently some US forces were involved"
-- who then were transferred from Shibergan to Pul --e-Charkhi prison
under the authority of the Government.

The expert, who visited the prison, called conditions there inhuman. "They
violate every standard of human rights whether under UN standards of
minimum rules for the treatment of offenders or under international
humanitarian law," he said.

He also called the detention illegal, because the suspects were arrested
as combatants and therefore as prisoners of war. "Every Government
official I have discussed this matter with has agreed that there's no
legal basis for their detention, and everyone has said that they should be
released," he said.

"There are allegations that the US authorities ask that they continue to
be kept in detention," he said. "I have protested this situation with the
appropriate government officials and I will continue to do so."

Asked what Washington's reaction was, he said, "The official response is
that the US has never asked to put a hold on their release. But, it is
quite clear having spoken to almost every senior official other than the
President, that all of the indications are that they want them to be
released and that there's someone else who's putting the hold on them."

"It seems that there's a question of credibility at stake here," he added.

Professor Bassiouni said about half of those detained at the site -- an
estimated 350 -- are Pakistanis.

The expert also raised the issue of US forces holding between 300 and 400
detainees in Kandahar and Bagram. "Nobody has had a chance to visit them,"
he noted. "The lack of giving an opportunity for people to go and see
these facilities is a lack of transparency that raises serious concerns
about the legality of detention as well as the condition of those
detentions."

Since Afghanistan is a sovereign State with its own an interim government,
he said that when foreign forces operate in its territory, they must have
a 'status of forces agreement,' or SOFA. "To the best of my knowledge
there is no SOFA between the US and the Government of Afghanistan, which
raises another serious legal question," he observed.

Mr. Bassiouni's concerns will be transmitted to the UN in a forthcoming
report, which will also touch on the problems faced by women tried and
sentenced by tribal councils for "social and alleged moral violations but
not legal violations." He said the condition of these women could be
compared to modern slavery.

UN News Centre