Bagram torture and prisoner abuse
Encyclopedia
In 2005, The New York Times
obtained a 2,000-page United States Army
report concerning the homicide
s of two unarmed civilian
Afghan
prisoners by U.S. armed forces
in 2002 at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility
(also Bagram Collection Point or B.C.P.) in Bagram
, Afghanistan
. The prisoners, Habibullah and Dilawar, were chained to the ceiling and beaten, which caused their deaths. Military coroner
s ruled that both the prisoners' deaths were homicides. Autopsies
revealed severe trauma to both prisoners' legs, describing the trauma as comparable to being run over by a bus. Seven soldiers were charged.
The alleged torture and homicides took place at the military detention center known as the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, which had been built by the Soviets
as an aircraft machine shop during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1980–1989). A concrete
-and-sheet metal
facility that was retrofit
ted with wire pens and wooden isolation cells, the center is part of Bagram Air Base
in the ancient city of Bagram
near Charikar in Parvan
, Afghanistan.
, whose lawyers had also demanded detailed information about conditions, rules and regulations.
s," 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 medics arrived, they found Habibullah dead.
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, as the act of striking him in order 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:
There has been a movie created about the incident called Taxi to the Dark Side
. In this movie they claim Dilawar was not captured driving past Bagram air base, but while driving through militia territory. He was stopped at a roadblock and given over to the U. S. Army for money reward, because the militia said he was a terrorist.
, an American of Pakistani Origin neuroscientist
, was suspected of the attempted assault
and killing of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. She mysteriously disappeared in 2003 with her three children, and was allegedly detained for five years at Bagram; she was the only female prisoner. She was known to the male detainees as "Prisoner 650" and has been dubbed the "Mata Hari
of al-Qaida" or the "Grey Lady of Bagram" by the media. In addition to former detainees of Bagram, Yvonne Ridley
maintains 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, Yvonne said, that they went on hunger strike
for six days. Siddiqui's family maintains that she has been abused. Her oldest son, who was seven years old when they disappeared, was detained in Afghanistan until 2008, and the whereabouts of her remaining two children are still unknown. Siddiqui was convicted and is awaiting sentencing.
“It is my judgment that Dr Siddiqui is sentenced to a period of incarceration of 86 years,” (for the attempted murder of US officers in Afghanistan said Judge Richard Berman, US District Court Judge of a Federal Court in Manhattan on Sept. 23 2010). Pakistani citizen Dr. Aafia Siddiqui denounced the trial saying “(an appeal would be) a waste of time. I appeal to God. " According to reports, 12-year old Ahmed (Dr Aafia’s son) was handed over to his aunt Fauzia Siddiqui in September 2008 after years of detention in a US military base in Afghanistan. Later on, a political activist group reported that a little girl named Fatima, was dropped off in front of the home of Siddiqui’s sister and the girl’s DNA matched that of Ahmed (Dr Aafia’s son). Meanwhile, a Pakistani Senator and chairman of the Pakistani Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior, Senator Talha Mehmood, “slammed the US for keeping the child in a military jail in a cold, dark room for seven years.”
in 1994 and sought asylum. In 2001 he converted to Islam and travelled to Pakistan followed by Afghanistan, by his own admission, to see whether Taliban-run Afghanistan was "a good Islamic country". Considered by the U.S. authorities as a would-be bomber, who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan
, he was arrested in Pakistan at the airport by Pakistani immigration officials in April 2002 on his way back to the U.K. But Mohamed insisted the only evidence against him was obtained using torture in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan between 2002 and 2004 before being secretly rendered to Guantánamo Bay. He alleges being beaten, scalded, cut and held captive in a black hole at the "Prison of Darkness", where he was deprived of sleep, blasted with sound, starved, beaten and hung up. In October 2008, the U.S. dropped all charges against him. Mohamed was reported as being very ill as a result of a hunger strike in the weeks before his release, while US authorities were reviewing his case. Mohamad also said to fellow Bagram detainee Moazzam Begg
in an interview in February 2009 that the woman he and the other male detainees saw at Bagram, named "Prisoner 650", was Aafia Siddiqui
, when Begg showed him a picture of her.
n refugee Mohammed Sulaymon Barre
, who worked for a funds transfer company, described his Bagram interrogation as "torture."
Barre said he was picked up and thrown around the interrogation room when he wouldn't confess to a false allegation. He was then put into an isolation chamber that was maintained at a piercingly cold temperature for several weeks. He said he was deprived of sufficient rations during his time in isolation. He said, as a result of this treatment his hands and feet swelled, causing him such excruciating pain he couldn't stand up.
Zalmay Shah, a citizen of Afghanistan
, was detained at Bagram air base and alleges mistreatment there. An article published in the May 2, 2007 issue of The New Republic
contained excerpts from an interview with Zalmay Shah. He said he had originally cooperated closely with the Americans. He had worked with an American
he knew only as "Tony" in the roundup of former members of the Taliban. According to the article:
Zalmay Shah was eventually released. He said that Americans continue to ask for his cooperation, but he now declines.
Others include Mohammed Salim
and Moazzam Begg
.
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 same 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 New York Times 28 soldiers were under investigation.
Some of the soldiers were reservists in the 377th Military Police Company under the command of Captain
Christopher M. Beiring. The rest were in the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion
under the command of Captain Carolyn A. Wood.
On October 14, 2004, the Criminal Investigation Command forwarded its report from its investigation to the commanders of 28 soldiers.
As of November 15, 2005, 15 soldiers have been charged.
and were assigned to Abu Ghraib prison
.
PFC Corsetti was fined and demoted for not having permission to conduct an interrogation at Abu Ghraib.
In November 2001, SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program's chief psychologist, Col. Morgan Banks, was sent to Afghanistan, where he spent four months at Bagram
. In early 2003, Banks issued guidance for the "behavioral science consultants" who helped to devise Guantánamo's
interrogation strategy although he has emphatically denied that he had advocated the use of SERE counter-resistance techniques to break down detainees.
through the Department of State
makes periodic reports to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. In October 2005, the report focused on pretrial detention of suspects in the War on Terrorism
, including those held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and in Afghanistan. This particular report is significant as the first official response of the U.S. government to allegations that there is widespread abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan. The report denies the allegations.
The McCain amendment was an amendment to the United States Senate
Department of Defense Authorization bill, commonly referred to as the Amendment on (1) the Army Field Manual and (2) Cruel, Inhumane, Degrading Treatment, amendment #1977 and also known as the McCain Amendment 1977. The amendment prohibited inhumane treatment of prisoners. The Amendment was introduced by Senator John McCain
, a candidate for the 2000 presidential Republican primary
, who is now better known for his unsuccessful bid for the whitehouse as the Republican candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections, which Barack Obama
won. On October 5, 2005, the United States Senate voted 90-9 to support the amendment.
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 inquired with the International Committee of the Red Cross
about this, the ICRC revealed that since August 2009 it was informed by US authorities about inmates of a second prison where detainees are held in isolation and without access to the International Red Cross that is usually guaranteed to all prisoners.
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
obtained a 2,000-page United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
report concerning the homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
s of two unarmed civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
Afghan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
prisoners by U.S. armed forces
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
in 2002 at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility
Bagram Theater Internment Facility
The Parwan Detention Facility , also called the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, is a United States-run prison located next to Bagram Airfield in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan.It was formerly known as the Bagram Collection Point...
(also Bagram Collection Point or B.C.P.) in Bagram
Bagram
Bagram , founded as Alexandria on the Caucasus and known in medieval times as Kapisa, is a small town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. The prisoners, Habibullah and Dilawar, were chained to the ceiling and beaten, which caused their deaths. Military coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
s ruled that both the prisoners' deaths were homicides. Autopsies
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
revealed severe trauma to both prisoners' legs, describing the trauma as comparable to being run over by a bus. Seven soldiers were charged.
Location
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as an aircraft machine shop during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1980–1989). A concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
-and-sheet metal
Sheet metal
Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes. Countless everyday objects are constructed of the material...
facility that was retrofit
Retrofit
Retrofitting refers to the addition of new technology or features to older systems.* power plant retrofit, improving power plant efficiency / increasing output / reducing emissions...
ted with wire pens and wooden isolation cells, the center is part of Bagram Air Base
Bagram Air Base
Bagram Airfield, also referred to as Bagram Air Base, is a militarized airport and housing complex that is located next to the ancient city of Bagram, southeast of Charikar in Parwan province of Afghanistan. The base is run by a US Army division headed by a major general. A large part of the base,...
in the ancient city of Bagram
Bagram
Bagram , founded as Alexandria on the Caucasus and known in medieval times as Kapisa, is a small town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir...
near Charikar in Parvan
Parvan Province
Parwān , also spelled Parvān, once also the name of an ancient town in the Hindu Kush mountains, is today an administrative province in northern Afghanistan, directly north of Kabul 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 publicizing such information. This list was prompted by a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in September 2009 by the American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
, whose lawyers had also demanded detailed information about conditions, rules and regulations.
Habibullah
Habibullah died on December 4, 2002. Several U.S. soldiers hit the chained man with so-called "peroneal strikePeroneal strike
A peroneal strike is a temporarily disabling blow to the side of the leg, just above the knee. The attacker aims at the common peroneal nerve, roughly a hand span above the knee, towards the back of the leg...
s," 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:
- By Dec. 3, Mr. Habibullah's reputation for defiance seemed to make him an open target. [He had taken at least 9 peroneal strikes from two M.P.'s for being "noncompliant and combative."]
- ... 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.
When medics arrived, they found Habibullah dead.
Dilawar
Dilawar, who died on December 10, 2002, was a 22-year-old Afghan taxiTaxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
driver and farmer who weighed 122 pounds and was described by his interpreters as neither violent nor aggressive.
When beaten, he repeatedly cried "Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
!" The outcry appears to have amused U.S. military personnel, as the act of striking him in order 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:
- On the day of his death, Dilawar had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days.
- "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.
There has been a movie created about the incident called Taxi to the Dark Side
Taxi to the Dark Side
Taxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 documentary film directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney, and produced by Eva Orner and Susannah Shipman, which won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature...
. In this movie they claim Dilawar was not captured driving past Bagram air base, but while driving through militia territory. He was stopped at a roadblock and given over to the U. S. Army for money reward, because the militia said he was a terrorist.
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui/Prisoner 650
Dr. Aafia SiddiquiAafia Siddiqui
Aafia Siddiqui is an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison; in September 2010, she was sentenced by a United States district court to 86...
, an American of Pakistani Origin neuroscientist
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
, was suspected of the attempted assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
and killing of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. She mysteriously disappeared in 2003 with her three children, and was allegedly detained for five years at Bagram; she was the only female prisoner. She was known to the male detainees as "Prisoner 650" and has been dubbed the "Mata Hari
Mata Hari
Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "M'greet" Zelle , a Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, and accused spy who was executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.-Early life:Margaretha Geertruida Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, Friesland,...
of al-Qaida" or the "Grey Lady of Bagram" by the media. In addition to former detainees of Bagram, Yvonne Ridley
Yvonne Ridley
Yvonne Ridley is a British journalist, war correspondent and Respect Party activist best known for her capture by the Taliban and subsequent conversion to Islam after release, her outspoken opposition to Zionism, and her criticism of Western media portrayals of the War on Terror...
maintains 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, Yvonne said, that they went on hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
for six days. Siddiqui's family maintains that she has been abused. Her oldest son, who was seven years old when they disappeared, was detained in Afghanistan until 2008, and the whereabouts of her remaining two children are still unknown. Siddiqui was convicted and is awaiting sentencing.
“It is my judgment that Dr Siddiqui is sentenced to a period of incarceration of 86 years,” (for the attempted murder of US officers in Afghanistan said Judge Richard Berman, US District Court Judge of a Federal Court in Manhattan on Sept. 23 2010). Pakistani citizen Dr. Aafia Siddiqui denounced the trial saying “(an appeal would be) a waste of time. I appeal to God. " According to reports, 12-year old Ahmed (Dr Aafia’s son) was handed over to his aunt Fauzia Siddiqui in September 2008 after years of detention in a US military base in Afghanistan. Later on, a political activist group reported that a little girl named Fatima, was dropped off in front of the home of Siddiqui’s sister and the girl’s DNA matched that of Ahmed (Dr Aafia’s son). Meanwhile, a Pakistani Senator and chairman of the Pakistani Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior, Senator Talha Mehmood, “slammed the US for keeping the child in a military jail in a cold, dark room for seven years.”
Binyam Mohamed
Mohamed arrived in the U.K. from EthiopiaEthiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
in 1994 and sought asylum. In 2001 he converted to Islam and travelled to Pakistan followed by Afghanistan, by his own admission, to see whether Taliban-run Afghanistan was "a good Islamic country". Considered by the U.S. authorities as a would-be bomber, who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, he was arrested in Pakistan at the airport by Pakistani immigration officials in April 2002 on his way back to the U.K. But Mohamed insisted the only evidence against him was obtained using torture in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan between 2002 and 2004 before being secretly rendered to Guantánamo Bay. He alleges being beaten, scalded, cut and held captive in a black hole at the "Prison of Darkness", where he was deprived of sleep, blasted with sound, starved, beaten and hung up. In October 2008, the U.S. dropped all charges against him. Mohamed was reported as being very ill as a result of a hunger strike in the weeks before his release, while US authorities were reviewing his case. Mohamad also said to fellow Bagram detainee Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
in an interview in February 2009 that the woman he and the other male detainees saw at Bagram, named "Prisoner 650", was Aafia Siddiqui
Aafia Siddiqui
Aafia Siddiqui is an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison; in September 2010, she was sentenced by a United States district court to 86...
, when Begg showed him a picture of her.
Others
SomaliaSomalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
n refugee Mohammed Sulaymon Barre
Mohammed Sulaymon Barre
Mohamed Saleban Bare is a Somali refugee who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba....
, who worked for a funds transfer company, described his Bagram interrogation as "torture."
Barre said he was picked up and thrown around the interrogation room when he wouldn't confess to a false allegation. He was then put into an isolation chamber that was maintained at a piercingly cold temperature for several weeks. He said he was deprived of sufficient rations during his time in isolation. He said, as a result of this treatment his hands and feet swelled, causing him such excruciating pain he couldn't stand up.
Zalmay Shah, a citizen of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, was detained at Bagram air base and alleges mistreatment there. An article published in the May 2, 2007 issue of The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
contained excerpts from an interview with Zalmay Shah. He said he had originally cooperated closely with the Americans. He had worked with an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
he knew only as "Tony" in the roundup of former members of the Taliban. According to the article:
Zalmay Shah was eventually released. He said that Americans continue to ask for his cooperation, but he now declines.
Others include Mohammed Salim
Mohammed Salim
Mohammed Abdul Salim was an Indian footballer from Kolkata, then part of the British Raj.-Career:By the mid-1930s Salim, a winger, was an essential member of Calcutta’s Mohammedan Sporting Club side, and helped them to claim five successive Calcutta League titles.After the title win of 1936, Salim...
and Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
.
Investigation and prosecution
In October 2004, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation CommandU.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command
United States Army Criminal Investigation Command investigates felony crimes and serious violations of military law within the United States Army...
concluded that there was probable cause
Probable cause
In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to make an arrest, to conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest, etc. when criminal charges are being considered. It is also used to refer to the...
to charge 27 officers
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
and enlisted personnel
Enlisted rank
An enlisted rank is, in most Militaries, any rank below a commissioned officer or warrant officer. The term can also be inclusive of non-commissioned officers...
with criminal offenses in the Dilawar case ranging from dereliction of duty
Dereliction of duty
Dereliction of duty is a specific offense under United States Code Title 10,892. Article 92 and applies to all branches of the US military. A service member who is derelict has willfully refused to perform his duties or has incapacitated himself in such a way that he cannot perform his duties...
to maiming and involuntary manslaughter. Fifteen of the same 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 New York Times 28 soldiers were under investigation.
Some of the soldiers were reservists in the 377th Military Police Company under the command of Captain
Captain (OF-2)
The army rank of captain is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery...
Christopher M. Beiring. The rest were in the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion
519th Military Intelligence Battalion
The 519th Military Intelligence Battalion is a unit of the United States Army.Personnel of the 519th MI Battalion were alleged to have killed the Afghan detainee Dilawar in custody at Bagram Theater Internment Facility in December 2002....
under the command of Captain Carolyn A. Wood.
On October 14, 2004, the Criminal Investigation Command forwarded its report from its investigation to the commanders of 28 soldiers.
As of November 15, 2005, 15 soldiers have been charged.
| Soldier | Unit | Charges |
|---|---|---|
| Sgt. James P. Boland | 377th MP | Charged in August 2004 with assault, maltreatment of a detainee, and dereliction of duty for alleged conduct in connection with treatment of a detainee on December 10, 2002 at Bagram. He was charged with a second specification of dereliction of duty in the death on December 3, 2002 of another detainee. All charges were dropped. He was given a letter of reprimand Letter of reprimand A letter of reprimand is a United States Department of Defense procedure involving a letter to an employee or soldier from his or her superior that details the wrongful actions of the person and the punishment that can be expected... and eventually left the Army. |
| Spc. Brian Cammack | 377th MP | Pled guilty on May 20, 2005 to charges of assault and two counts of making a false statement, and agreed to testify in related cases in exchange for a dismissal of the charge of maltreating detainees. Sentenced to three months in prison, reduction to the rank of private, and a bad-conduct discharge. Cammack claimed he hit Habibullah because Habibullah had spit on him. |
| Pfc. Willie V. Brand | 377th MP | Charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, maiming, maltreatment, and making a false sworn statement. Convicted in August, 2005 of assault, maltreatment, making a false sworn statement, and maiming, charges involving Dilawar. Acquitted on charges involving Habibullah. Reduced to the rank of private. |
| Sgt. Anthony Morden | 377th MP | Charged with assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. Pled guilty. Sentenced to 75 days of confinement, reduction to the rank of private, and a bad-conduct discharge. |
| Sgt. Christopher W. Greatorex | 377th MP | Acquitted of charges of abuse, maltreatment and making a false official statement. |
| Sgt. Darin M. Broady | 377th MP | Acquitted of charges of assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. |
| Capt. Christopher M. Beiring | 377th MP |
|
| Staff Sgt. Brian L. Doyle | 377th MP |
|
| Sgt. Duane M. Grubb | 377th MP |
Accused of assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. Prosecutors said Grubb repeatedly struck handicapped captive Zarif Khan with his knees. Grubb testified that he had never hit the prisoner. He was acquitted of all charges. |
| Sgt. Alan J. Driver | 377th MP |
|
| Spc. Nathan Adam Jones | 377th MP |
|
| Spc. Glendale C. Walls | 519th MI |
|
| Sgt. Selena M. Salcedo Selena M. Salcedo Selena M. Salcedo was an United States Army soldier, who pled guilty to charges of dereliction of duty and assault in connection with the abuse of an Afghani prisoner, Dilawar, who later died.... |
519th MI |
Charged in May 2005 with assault, dereliction of duty, and lying to investigators. Suspected of stepping on Dilawar's bare foot, grabbing his beard, kicking him, and then ordering the detainee to remain chained to the ceiling. At trial Salcedo pled guilty and received a sentence of a one-grade reduction in rank, $1000 fine, and a written reprimand. |
| Sgt. Joshua Claus Joshua Claus Joshua R. Claus is a former member of the United States Army, whose unit was present at both Iraq's Abu Ghraib and at the Bagram Theater Detention Facility in Afghanistan, and was the first interrogator of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr... |
519th MI |
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| Pfc. Damien M. Corsetti Damien M. Corsetti Damien M. Corsetti was a soldier in the United States Army.As part of the Army's investigation into prisoner abuse at Bagram, Corsetti was charged with dereliction of duty, maltreatment, assault and performing an indecent act with another person... |
519th MI |
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Involved but uncharged
Some interrogators involved in this incident were sent to IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and were assigned to Abu Ghraib prison
Abu Ghraib prison
The Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s....
.
PFC Corsetti was fined and demoted for not having permission to conduct an interrogation at Abu Ghraib.
Allegations of a widespread pattern of abuse
An editorial of the New York Times noted a parallel with the later abuse and torture of prisoners in Iraq:- (W)hat happened at Abu GhraibAbu Ghraib prisonThe Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s....
was no aberration, but part of a widespread pattern. It showed the tragic impact of the initial decision by Mr. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and his top advisers that they were not going to follow the Geneva ConventionsGeneva ConventionsThe Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
, or indeed American law, for prisoners taken in antiterrorist operations.
- 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.
In November 2001, SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program's chief psychologist, Col. Morgan Banks, was sent to Afghanistan, where he spent four months at Bagram
Bagram Air Base
Bagram Airfield, also referred to as Bagram Air Base, is a militarized airport and housing complex that is located next to the ancient city of Bagram, southeast of Charikar in Parwan province of Afghanistan. The base is run by a US Army division headed by a major general. A large part of the base,...
. In early 2003, Banks issued guidance for the "behavioral science consultants" who helped to devise Guantánamo's
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
interrogation strategy although he has emphatically denied that he had advocated the use of SERE counter-resistance techniques to break down detainees.
U.S. government response
The United States governmentFederal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
through the Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
makes periodic reports to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. In October 2005, the report focused on pretrial detention of suspects in the War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, including those held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and in Afghanistan. This particular report is significant as the first official response of the U.S. government to allegations that there is widespread abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan. The report denies the allegations.
McCain Amendment
Main article: Detainee Treatment Act of 2005The McCain amendment was an amendment to the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Department of Defense Authorization bill, commonly referred to as the Amendment on (1) the Army Field Manual and (2) Cruel, Inhumane, Degrading Treatment, amendment #1977 and also known as the McCain Amendment 1977. The amendment prohibited inhumane treatment of prisoners. The Amendment was introduced by Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, a candidate for the 2000 presidential Republican primary
Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2000
The 2000 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Governor of Texas George W...
, who is now better known for his unsuccessful bid for the whitehouse as the Republican candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections, which Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
won. On October 5, 2005, the United States Senate voted 90-9 to support the amendment.
Second secret prison
In May 2010, the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
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 inquired with the International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
about this, the ICRC revealed that since August 2009 it was informed by US authorities about inmates of a second prison where detainees are held in isolation and without access to the International Red Cross that is usually guaranteed to all prisoners.
See also
- Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuseAbu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuseBeginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
- AbuseAbuseAbuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...
- Canadian Afghan detainee abuse scandalCanadian Afghan detainee abuse scandalThe Canadian Afghan detainee issue concerns whether or not the Government of Canada and/or the Canadian Forces had knowledge about alleged abusive treatment of detainees in Afghanistan...
- Command responsibilityCommand responsibilityCommand responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, and also known as superior responsibility, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....
- Criticism of the War on TerrorismCriticism of the War on TerrorismCriticism of the War on Terror addresses the issues, morals, ethics, efficiency, economics, and other questions surrounding the War on Terror...
- Enhanced interrogation
- Iraq prison abuse scandalsIraq prison abuse scandalsAbout six months after the invasion of Iraq rumors of Iraq prison abuse scandals started to emerge.The best known abuse incidents occurred at the large Abu Ghraib prison. Graphic pictures of some of those abuse incidents were made public. Less well-known abuse incidents have been documented at...
- International public opinion on the war in AfghanistanInternational public opinion on the war in AfghanistanInternational public opinion is largely opposed to the war in Afghanistan. A 47-nation global survey of public opinion conducted in June 2007 by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found considerable opposition to the U.S. and NATO military operations in Afghanistan...
- Military abuse
- Opposition to the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- Prisoner abusePrisoner abusePrisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are under arrest or incarcerated.Abuse falling into this category includes:* Physical abuse: Needless beating, hitting, or other corporal punishment....
- Protests against the invasion of AfghanistanProtests against the invasion of AfghanistanThe ongoing decade-long War in Afghanistan has prompted large protests around the world, with the first large-scale demonstrations beginning in the days leading up to the war's official launch on October 7, 2001....
- Qur'an desecration controversy of 2005Qur'an desecration controversy of 2005The 2005 Qur'an desecration controversy began when Newsweek's April 30 issue contained a report asserting that United States prison guards or interrogators had deliberately damaged a copy of Islam's holiest book, the Qur'an....
- The Salt Pit
- Taxi to the Dark SideTaxi to the Dark SideTaxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 documentary film directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney, and produced by Eva Orner and Susannah Shipman, which won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature...
- Torture and the United StatesTorture and the United StatesTorture in the United States includes documented and alleged cases of torture both inside the United States and outside its borders by U.S. government personnel...
- Uses of torture in recent timesUses of torture in recent timesTorture, the infliction of severe physical or psychological pain upon an individual to extract information or a confession, or as an illicit extrajudicial punishment, is prohibited by international law and is illegal in most countries. However, it is still used by many governments...
- War in Afghanistan (2001–present)War in Afghanistan (2001–present)The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
External links
- Allegations of abuse and neglect at a US detention facility in Afghanistan - BBC video June 24, 2009
- From Bagram to Abu Ghraib, article by Emily BazelonEmily BazelonEmily Bazelon is an American journalist, senior editor for online magazine Slate, and a senior research fellow at Yale Law School. Her work as a writer focuses on law, abortion, and family issues.-Journalism career:...
, Mother JonesMother Jones (magazine)Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
, March 1, 2005 - U.S. 'Thumbs Its Nose' at Rights, Amnesty Says by Alan Cowell, New York Times, May 26, 2005
- Years After 2 Afghans Died, Abuse Case Falters, New York Times, February 13, 2006
- Failures of Imagination, Columbia Journalism ReviewColumbia Journalism ReviewThe Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
, 2005, issue 5 - America's Secret Afghan Prisons by Anand Gopal, February 2010
- Human Rights First; Undue Process: An Examination of Detention and Trials of Bagram Detainees in Afghanistan in April 2009 (2009)
- US-held detainee has become 'mentally disturbed' BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
16 May 2010