The Red Cross has criticized the way the US handles prisoners at the highly secretive Bagram military base in Afghanistan, urging reforms that would allow detainees to introduce testimony in their defense.
The criticism of the prison, which few outsiders have seen, goes to the heart of the system the administration of US President George W. Bush uses to justify holding detainees outside the US.
Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said on Monday that many of the 600-plus detainees at Bagram complain they do not even know why they are being held.
Kellenberger spent a half-day at the prison during a one-week visit to Afghanistan.
“They do not know what the future brings, how long will they be there and under which conditions will they be released,” Kellenberger told a news conference.
CUBA CONNECTION
While Kellenberger’s comments were aimed specifically at Bagram, Red Cross chief spokesman Florian Westphal said there was “a strong parallel” with the U.S. military detention centers in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“We’ve talked about the absence of a clear legal framework and of sufficient procedural safeguards with regard to Guantanamo, in particular, as we have done for Bagram,” Westphal said in Geneva.
The US military holds about 23,000 detainees in Iraq and schedules review hearings every six months to decide on release or continued custody. But new evidence is rarely — if ever — introduced, and the panel mostly assesses a detainee’s conduct and statements while in custody.
Kellenberger welcomed the establishment of “enemy combatant review boards” in Afghanistan that every six months examine whether a detainee can be released. But on Monday he called for expanded prisoner rights, including allowing detainees to introduce outside testimony.
‘HIGH TIME’
“I do consider the establishment of this body as progress, but I think it was high time,” he said. “This body should also get evidence from the persons outside, ... evidence which can speak in favor of those who are detained ... Evidence of people who know them, so that this evidence is brought into the process.”
Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Nielson-Green, the US military spokesman in Afghanistan, said it takes “all ICRC recommendations into great consideration,” but could not “speculate as to the likelihood for implementation.”
The prison is highly secretive, and unlike the US prison in Guantanamo, does not allow journalists to visit. It also does not reveal who is detained there or what their alleged offenses are. Some of the detainees are fighters who were held after clashes or raids.
Kellenberger praised US authorities for acting on some Red Cross recommendations, such as allowing video-conferencing between families and detainees, and said he was hopeful family visits would soon be allowed.
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