BBC: Abuse And Neglect Alleged At Bagram Air Base Prison

by Turkana

This will come as a great surprise. From the BBC:

Allegations of abuse and neglect at a US detention facility in Afghanistan have been uncovered by the BBC.

Former detainees have alleged they were beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with dogs at the Bagram military base.

Sound familiar? Standard operating procedure under the Bush Maladministration?

Twenty-seven different inmates were interviewed. They were imprisoned between 2002 and 2008. Only two said they were treated well. None were ever charged. None were ever tried. Some received apologies, upon their release. Oops. The Pentagon, quite shockingly, denied the charges.

Many allegations of ill-treatment appear repeatedly in the interviews: physical abuse, the use of stress positions, excessive heat or cold, unbearably loud noise, being forced to remove clothes in front of female soldiers.

Sound familiar? Standard operating procedure under the Bush Maladministration?

One former inmate:

"They poured cold water on you in winter and hot water in summer. They used dogs against us. They put a pistol or a gun to your head and threatened you with death," he said.

"They put some kind of medicine in the juice or water to make you sleepless and then they would interrogate you."

Sound familiar? Standard operating procedure under the Bush Maladministration?

The article says that although President Obama has ordered an end to torture, these prisoners exist in a "legal black hole," with no access to lawyers and no right to challenge their imprisonment; and Tina Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, says the new administration is using the same legal arguments used by the Bush Maladministration, to justify such imprisonments.

In stark terms, IJN says the following:

"At this point, there can be no doubt that despite President Obama's rhetoric regarding the closure of Guantanamo, his administration claims the right to use Bagram to imprison people indefinitely and deny them human rights," said Tina Monshipour Foster, IJNetwork's Executive Director. "It's an outrage that rather than let our clients have their day in court, this administration has chosen instead to defend and perpetuate Bush administration policies."

Standard operating procedure for the Bush Maladministration should not continue under the Obama Administration. Call 202-456-1111 and let them know.