Bagram torture and prisoner abuse

Location

The torture and homicides allegedly took place at the military detention center known as the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, which had been built by the Soviet Union as an aircraft machine shop during the Soviet–Afghan War (1980–1989), which was a concrete-and-sheet metal facility that was retrofitted with wire pens and wooden isolation cells; the center was part of Bagram Airfield in Bagram, near Charikar in Parwan Province, Afghanistan.

Detainees

In January 2010, the American military released the names of 645 detainees held at the main detention center at Bagram, modifying its long-held position against publishing such information. This was to comply with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in September 2009 by the American Civil Liberties Union, whose lawyers had also demanded detailed information about conditions, rules, and regulations at the center.

Victims

Habibullah

Main article: Habibullah (Bagram detainee)

Habibullah died on December 4, 2002. Several U.S. soldiers hit the chained man with so-called "peroneal strikes", or severe blows to the side of the leg above the knee. This incapacitates the leg by hitting the common peroneal nerve. According to The New York Times:

... When Sgt. James P. Boland saw Mr. Habibullah on Dec. 3, he was in one of the isolation cells, tethered to the ceiling by two sets of handcuffs and a chain around his waist. His body was slumped forward, held up by the chains. Sergeant Boland ... had entered the cell with [Specialists Anthony M. Morden and Brian E. Cammack]...

...kneeing the prisoner sharply in the thigh, "maybe a couple" of times. Mr. Habibullah's limp body swayed back and forth in the chains.{{Cite news |access-date = 2017-01-31 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071224182826/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/20/international/asia/20abuse.html?ex=1274241600&en=4579c146cb14cfd6&ei=5088 |archive-date = 2007-12-24 |url-status = live

Dilawar

Main article: Killing of Dilawar

Dilawar, who died on December 10, 2002, was a 22-year-old Afghan taxi driver and farmer who weighed 122 pounds and was described by his interpreters as neither violent nor aggressive.

When beaten, he repeatedly cried "Allah". The outcry appears to have amused U.S. military personnel. The act of striking him to provoke a scream of "Allah" eventually "became a kind of running joke", according to one of the MP's. "People kept showing up to give this detainee a common peroneal strike just to hear him scream out 'Allah'", he said. "It went on over a 24-hour period, and I would think that it was over 100 strikes."

The Times reported that:

A guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.

"Leave him up," one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying. Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen.

It would be many months before Army investigators learned a final horrific detail: Most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time.{{Cite news |access-date = 2007-09-21 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071225040413/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/international/asia/22abuse.html?ex=1274414400&en=35951e72c65a2185&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss |archive-date = 2007-12-25 |url-status = live

Aafia Siddiqui/Prisoner 650

Main article: Aafia Siddiqui

Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani citizen educated in the United States as a neuroscientist, was suspected of the attempted assault and killing of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. She disappeared in 2003 with her three children. She was allegedly detained for five years at Bagram with her children; she was the only female prisoner. She was known to the male detainees as "Prisoner 650". The media dubbed her the "Mata Hari of al-Qaida" or the "Grey Lady of Bagram". Yvonne Ridley says that Siddiqui is the "Grey Lady of Bagram" – a ghostly female detainee, who kept prisoners awake "with her haunting sobs and piercing screams". In 2005, male prisoners were so agitated by her plight, Ridley said, that they went on a hunger strike for six days. Siddiqui's family maintains that she was abused at Bagram.

Binyam Mohamed

Main article: Binyam Mohamed

Mohamed immigrated to the U.K. from Ethiopia in 1994 and sought asylum. In 2001, he converted to Islam and travelled to Pakistan, followed by Afghanistan, to see if the Taliban-run Afghanistan was "a good Islamic country". U.S. authorities believed that he was a would-be bomber who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistani immigration officials arrested him at the airport in April 2002 before he returned to the U.K., and Mohamed has said officials have used evidence gained through torture in sites in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan between 2002 and 2004, before he was "secretly rendered" to the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. In October 2008, the U.S. dropped all charges against him. Mohamed was reported as very ill as a result of a hunger strike in the weeks before his release. In February 2009, Mohamed was interviewed by Moazzam Begg, a fellow Bagram detainee and founder of CagePrisoners, an organization to help released detainees. Mohamad identified a photo of Aafia Siddiqui as the woman whom he and other male detainees had seen at Bagram, known as "Prisoner 650".

Others

Main article: Detainees held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility

Mohammed Sulaymon Barre, a Somali refugee who worked for a funds transfer company, described his Bagram interrogation as "torture". [ Summarized transcripts (.pdf)], from Mohammed Sulaymon Barre's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 30-37 Barre said he was picked up and thrown around the interrogation room when he would not confess to a false allegation. He was put into an isolation chamber that was maintained at a piercingly cold temperature for several weeks, and deprived of sufficient rations during this period. As a result of this treatment, his hands and feet swelled, causing him such excruciating pain that he could not stand up.

Zalmay Shah, a citizen of Afghanistan, alleges mistreatment during detention at Bagram air base.{{Cite magazine | author-link=Eliza Griswold | access-date=2007-05-03

Shah was eventually released.

Others include Mohammed Salim and Moazzam Begg.

Investigation and prosecution

In October 2004, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command concluded that there was probable cause to charge 27 officers and enlisted personnel with criminal offenses in the Dilawar case, ranging from dereliction of duty to maiming and involuntary manslaughter. Fifteen of the soldiers were also cited for probable criminal responsibility in the Habibullah case. Seven soldiers have been charged so far. According to an article published in the October 15, 2004, by The New York Times, 28 soldiers were under investigation.{{Cite news |access-date = 2005-12-07 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060306125207/http://www.ccmep.org/2004_articles/general/101504_28_soldiers.htm |archive-date = 2006-03-06 |url-status = live

On October 14, 2004, the Criminal Investigation Command forwarded its report from its investigation to the commanders of 28 soldiers. |access-date=2007-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224110128/http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=6450 |archive-date=2007-12-24 |url-status=dead

As of January 20, 2012, 17 soldiers have been charged (15 of which listed).

Involved but uncharged

Some interrogators involved in this incident were sent to Iraq, and were assigned to Abu Ghraib prison. PFC Corsetti was fined and demoted while assigned to Abu Ghraib for not having permission to conduct an interrogation.

Allegations of widespread abuse

A May 2005 editorial of The New York Times noted parallels between military behavior at Bagram and the later abuse and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq:

The investigative file on Bagram, obtained by The Times, showed that the mistreatment of prisoners was routine: shackling them to the ceilings of their cells, depriving them of sleep, kicking and hitting them, sexually humiliating them and threatening them with guard dogs -- the very same behavior later repeated in Iraq.

United States government response

Main article: Periodic Report of the United States of America to the United Nations Committee Against Torture

The United States government, through the Department of State submits periodic reports to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. In October 2005, the report focused on the pretrial detention of terrorism suspects in the war on terrorism, including those held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and in Afghanistan. This report was particularly significant as it marked the first official response from the U.S. government to allegations of widespread abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and facilities such as Guantanamo Bay. The report denied the allegations.

In 2010, Justice Project Pakistan began advocating for the repatriation of prisoners subjected to torture at Bagram. As a result, the U.S. government ultimately allowed all known prisoners to be return home by 2014. In the same year, the Bagram detention facility was officially transferred to Afghan authorities as part of the broader U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The transfer was seen as part of broader efforts to address international criticism of U.S. detention practices. Although the formal handover occurred in 2013, the U.S. maintained some level of involvement in detention operations in Afghanistan until the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2021.

McCain Amendment

Main article: Detainee Treatment Act of 2005

The McCain Amendment, part of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, was an amendment to the United States Senate Department of Defence Authorization bill. Officially designated as Amendment #1977 it focused on (1) adherence to the U.S. Army Field Manual and (2) the prohibition of Cruel, Inhumane, Degrading Treatment, amendment #1977, and also known as the McCain Amendment 1977.

Introduced by Senator John McCain, the amendment aimed to ensure humane treatment of detainees. On October 5, 2005, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted 90–9. It was later signed into law by President George W. Bush, reinforcing the U.S. commitment to humane interrogation and detention practises.{{cite web |access-date = 2018-02-16 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180212124109/https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00249 |archive-date = 2018-02-12 |url-status = live

Second secret prison

In May 2010, the BBC reported about nine prisoners who "told consistent stories of being held in isolation in cold cells where a light is on all day and night. The men said they had been deprived of sleep by US military personnel there." When the BBC sought information from the International Committee of the Red Cross about this, the ICRC revealed that it had been informed in August 2009, by U.S. authorities that they maintained a second facility at Bagram, commonly known as the Black Jail, where detainees were held in isolation due to "military necessity". This was an exception to the principle of allowing guaranteed access for all prisoners to the International Red Cross.

Closure

The facility officially shut down on December 10, 2014.

Film

The 2007 documentary Taxi to the Dark Side (2007), directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney, focuses on the murder of Dilawar by US troops at Bagram.

References

References

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2. link. (2009-02-02 , CagePrisoners, 10 September 2008)
3. "Confinement Conditions at a U.S. Screening Facility on Bagram Air Base".
4. "Bagram Theater Internment Facility (BTIF)".
5. (16 January 2010). "Bagram Detainees Named by U.S.". The New York Times.
6. (16 January 2010). "US releases names of prisoners at Bagram, Afghanistan".
7. [https://www.medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/9211.htm Common peroneal nerve dysfunction], ''[[MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia]]''
8. Golden, Tim. (2005-05-20). "Chained, tortured and left to die in cell". The Guardian.
9. Wibowo, Agustinus. (11 July 2007). "Kabul – Nine Afghan Prisoners from Bagram".
10. Olovsson, Tommy. (2021-09-23). "Afghanistan: Bagram Victims Recount Stories Of Abuse & Torture".
11. KHAWAJA UMER FAROOQ. (23 March 2013). "Pakistan Affairs".
12. Walsh, Declan. (2009-11-24). "The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui". [[guardian.co.uk]].
13. [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7906381.stm Profile: Binyam Mohamed], BBC
14. link. (2010-02-26 , CagePrisoners website)
15. Begg, Moazzam. (2007). "Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar". New Press.
16. (2006-05-26). "A look at Afghanistan abuse cases".
17. (28 September 2005). "Army interrogator gets 5 months for abuse".
18. Fenton, Jenifer. "Pakistanis describe 'hell' of Bagram base detention".
19. (2012-09-09). "Afghanistan: US hands over controversial Bagram jail". BBC News.
20. Pikulicka-Wilczewska, Agnieszka. "At Afghanistan's 'Guantanamo', ex-inmates recount abuse, torture".
21. Fisher, Max. (2010-05-11). "What We Know About Now-Confirmed 'Black Site' Prison at Bagram".
22. [https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8674179.stm Red Cross confirms 'second jail' at Bagram, Afghanistan]; [[BBC]], 11 May 2010.
23. (10 December 2014). "U.S. Closes Bagram Detention Center, Hands Over Last Afghan Prisoners".
24. (11 December 2014). "US finally closes detention facility at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan".