Torture claims spotlight Afghan
prisons By Frud Bezhan
International pressure is mounting on the
Afghan government to take action against
widespread torture, mistreatment, and sexual abuse
in detention facilities. The calls for reform have
grown louder since the release on January 20 of a
damning UN report that says a growing number of
prisoners are being tortured in government
custody.
The report lists electric shock,
genital twisting, beatings with pipes, and threats
of execution and rape among the methods used.
The findings of the report, issued by UN
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), have
raised serious concerns for Afghanistan's Western
allies as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) transfers hundreds of its detainees to
Afghan control. Possible
disruption of the prisoner transfers, which is a
key part of the security transition, could
complicate the expected withdrawal of NATO-led
forces next year.
A similar UN report in
2012 that claimed hundreds of detainees had been
tortured in Afghan intelligence and police
detention centers led NATO to halt transfers to
several Afghan jails. This year's report concluded
that almost one-third of all NATO detainees
recently transferred to Kabul have been abused.
Michael Kugelman, South Asia associate at
the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars, says the findings could once again
complicate the handover process. That includes the
transfer of detainees still held by the U.S.
military at Bagram prison, a huge detention center
on the grounds of an American military base.
Handovers in doubt? Kugelman
says claims of torture will make it difficult for
the NATO-led coalition to hand over prisoners. He
suggests the coalition may enforce stricter
preconditions for transfers as a result.
"What could happen is that NATO may decide
to condition the Bagram transfer on assurances and
guarantees from the Afghan government that it will
actually investigate these allegations and
assuming that they're true - which I'm sure they
are - that they then act and do something,"
Kugelman says. "NATO can't just let this go; these
[allegations] are really serious."
Kugelman says the findings of the report
could also disrupt foreign aid to Kabul. He says
that under US law no economic assistance can be
provided to a country that is known to be involved
in torture and has shown little intent in
addressing it. That would raise serious concerns
for Kabul, which is heavily dependent on outside
assistance.
Legal issues could also derail
the prisoner transfers. The International
Convention Against Torture, which the United
States and other NATO countries have signed,
prohibits countries from transferring detainees to
another state's custody where a credible risk of
torture exists.
The UNAMA report found
that over half of the 635 detainees it interviewed
had been tortured. The interviews took place
between October 2011 and October 2012. The
findings reveal an increase in the number of
torture claims at police jails in the past year.
The report also warns that the country's
intelligence service created secret prisons and
sometimes hid detainees from international
observers.
Evidence of
torture Kabul has rejected the report,
titled "Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in
Afghan Custody: One Year On", as "exaggerated".
The Afghan government has since assigned a team to
investigate the claims.
Among the 34
Afghan jails where UN investigators are believed
to have found evidence of torture and
ill-treatment is Afghanistan's notorious Pol-e
Charkhi prison, the largest in the country.
Detainees there have long alleged torture
and abuse at the hands of prison officials. Those
allegations resurfaced after prisoners staged a
four-day hunger strike on January 14 and sewed
their lips together in protest of what they called
widespread mistreatment, including physical and
mental abuse, food deprivation, and extortion.
One of those protesting was Mohammad
Hakim, a prisoner who spoke by telephone to RFE/RL
on January 18. Hakim, who did not say why he had
been imprisoned or for how long, said at least 35
inmates took part in the strike.
"Prison
officials don't let us have Korans, and we don't
have enough clothes to wear," Hakim said. "[We are
getting sick because] our cells have open toilets.
The prison officials are placing severe
restrictions on what we are allowed to do."
Hadi, another prisoner at the facility,
says inmates who have served their sentences are
being denied release, while others eligible to
have their sentences reduced under a presidential
decree are being forced to pay prison officials
bribes of up to US$2,000 to secure their freedom.
"Those prisoners that pay walk free," Hadi
says. "Those of us who say we don't have money are
told by prison officials that our personal
dossiers have been lost."
'Culture of
impunity' The Attorney General's Office has
launched an investigation into the allegations at
Pol-e Charkhi, which is run by the Afghan
government and houses more than 3,000 inmates,
including ex-Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters,
convicted murderers, and drug smugglers.
The increase in the number of torture
cases in Afghan jails comes despite a coordinated
attempt by Kabul and NATO to stop it. Afghan
intelligence and police officials have been
trained in interrogation techniques that respect
human rights. There have also been efforts to
closely monitor detention facilities.
But
Chris Rogers, a human rights lawyer at the Open
Society Foundation who works on civilian
casualties and conflict-related detentions in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, says only accountability
measures will stop and prevent torture from
occurring.
Rogers says the Afghan
government has so far resorted to shuffling guilty
individuals within the system rather than
punishing them.
"The top priority has to
be addressing a culture of impunity and making
sure those individuals who have been found to be
responsible for abuse or abuse was going on under
their watch are held accountable," Rogers says. "A
message needs to be sent throughout the Afghan
judicial, intelligence, and security system that
abuse will not be tolerated, at the highest
level."
With additional reporting by
RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan.
Copyright (c) 2013, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted
with the permission of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW,
Washington DC 20036.
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