Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiU.S. Military Unveils Huge New Prison in Afghanistan
KABUL - The U.S. military has announced the opening of a new prison on Bagram Air Base. The prison, costing 60 million dollars, will hold up to 1,100 prisoners at any one time.
![[A US captain is silhouetted as he looks on during a media tour of Bagram prison, north of Kabul, on November 15, 2009. Eager to dispel its image as a rights abuser after many "war on terror" prison scandals, the US has opened a huge, new Afghan jail that critics say still falls far short of basic legal standards.
(AFP/Massoud Hossaini)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/bagram2009.jpg "bagram2009.jpg")
U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, a U.S. Army lawyer who undertook an examination this year of Afghan and American prisons, said that the prison would be handed over to the Afghan government, though it is unclear when that handover will take place.
Last week, reporters were taken on a tour of the facility, a dramatic move by the military, as no journalists - and few visitors of any kind - were allowed inside the old prison. The tour was part of a U.S. effort to show more transparency. Washington has been accused of a variety of human rights violations against Afghan detainees at Bagram.
Brig. Gen Martins stressed that "vocational training" will be available at the facility, to give job skills to those who have been held there. A review board, which examines prisoner's cases, will sit at the new jail as well as provide resources for prisoners to challenge their detention through legal means.
By the end of this year about 700 prisoners from the old Bagram prison will be transferred to the new facility.
Abdul Qadir Adalat, a deputy at the Ministry of Justice, says that the construction of this facility is a positive step. Though he just learned about the new prison "last Thursday", he said the fact that Afghan and international security forces will be conducting joint operations to apprehend anti-government fighters is a good thing.
But some legal analysts say that a foreign power building a prison on Afghan soil to hold Afghans without charge is in fact illegal. Nasrullah Stanikzai, professor of law at Kabul University, says that according to Afghan and international law, the right to hold citizens against their will belongs solely to a nation's government.
He described the act of building such a prison on Afghan soil without being subject to Afghan laws as a revocation of Afghanistan's independence.
"Article Two of Afghan prison law says that building prisons and incarcerating citizens can only be done with the approval of the attorney general and the high court," said Stanikzai. "Additionally, only the Ministry of Justice is authorised to arrest and detain individuals. This prison," he adds, "is illegal."
Meer Ahmad Juyehdah, a member of parliament, echoes this sentiment. "It is the government's duty to deal with enemies of the state and criminals." He says that the fact such prisons exist lead Afghans to question just who is in charge in this country.
Despite these protests, the new facility should be an improvement over the old.
Fareed Hamidi, commissioner of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission (HRC), says that the rooms where the detainees will live as well as other on-site spaces were built in accordance with international standards of detention.
"The Human Rights Commission's concern," says Hamidi, "is the way prisoners are dealt with. Are international principles, rules and standards followed or not?"
Hamidi says that one of the jobs of his group is to monitor conditions in jails. Given that organisations like the HRC are usually not allowed into military prisons, keeping tabs on prisoner treatment will be difficult.
He adds that detainees will have access to non-attorney advocates, but the fact that the length of their detention is indefinite raises serious concerns. Hamidi asserts that those held at Bagram have not been found guilty of any crime and no Afghan court has seen evidence against them.
What is known is that prisoners have been treated severely at the old Bagram facility.
In 2002, two prisoners died there after severe beatings, which included chaining the men to the ceiling and beating their legs. A military coroner's report likened the condition of the bodies to those that had been run over by a bus.
Last summer, a BBC report featured interviews with dozens of men who were detainees at Bagram between 2002 and 2008. The men told the reporters that they faced cruel punishment, including severe beatings.
"They put a pistol to my ear," said one man. "They said I had to speak or be shot."
"They did things you would not do against animals, let alone humans," said another. Such reports led some to label Bagram "The new Guantanamo", referring to the U.S. military detention centre in Cuba.
Upon becoming the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McCrystal made clear that he wanted to reform the treatment of detainees at Bagram.
A detainee review board is part of this reform process, and the new facility has space for the review board to meet. The board would give detainees the opportunity to challenge their detention and even present evidence on their own behalf.
This was originally published in the Killid Weekly. IPS and Killid, an independent Afghan media group, are partners since 2004.
42 Comments so far
Show AllBasically, the press was allowed to visit this prison, because it doesn't yet have blood splattered on the walls, and the stench of gangrene and death don't yet fill the halls.
US: "You will fill it for us, or YOU will fill it for us."
The U.S. government would love to build big prisons in as many countries as possible.
"Last week, reporters were taken on a tour of the facility, a dramatic move by the military, as no journalists - and few visitors of any kind - were allowed inside the old prison. The tour was part of a U.S. effort to show more transparency."
Transparency that will end with the arrival of the first prisoner.
I wonder how many of the rooms have drains built into the floor so they can wash the blood out with a hose.
Interesting the number of people that attack the folks that speak out about this subject on this board. One would think there was a concerted effort to support slavery through attacking the outraged.
Or is it just embarrassment by those secretly involved.
NavyChick should well know that the Navy has annual training about trafficking in people and that, except for extraordinary renditions, presumably has a zero tolerance rule about even frequenting a bar in which the workers may be involuntary. So while it is not uncommon in other countries, it is also not sufficiently uncommon in the military to be ignored.
Indeed, just because others jump off the cliff spiritually doesn't mean you should allow your neighbor to do so. Slavery thy name is red state right wring christian. See the “main destinations” colors on the map on page 17 of: http://www.unodc.org/pdf/traffickinginpersons_report_2006-04.pdf. Note the main destinations are mainly, except for Saudi Arabia, “Christian” countries. But then so are the “mainly origin” counties. Asia stands out as “trafficking” within itself.
officially americanised
Please explain to me again how Americans would feel if
the Taliban invaded the US because they wanted to steal
something we had and then started picking Americans up
off the street, holding them indefinitely without charge
in a prison. Refusing to give them even the most basic
rights to due process and then tortured them just for
kicks. So we would be thankful to them of course,
right!!1 RIGHT!!!!!
Reports in Indian newspapers indicate that one of the prime suspects in the Mumbai bombings is a CIA asset. The US Currently refuses to turn the suspect over and are shielding him from Indian Authorities.
The article suggests that said suspect one David Coleman Headly infiltrated the group involved in the Mumbai bombings on the behalf of the CIA and then turned "rogue".
It seems the CIA has a tradition of Agents suddenly turning rogue and acting on their own initiative.
(The CIA claimed that Terrorist Manuals used by the Contras in Nicaraugua wherein they were encouraged to attack soft targets like Doctors, NUns and teachers was created by "Rogue Agents" and that Drugs imported into the US by Cia agents was the work of "Rogue Agents")
Headly (Formerly called Daood Gilani ) is said to have been involved in Drug smuggling into the US from Pakistan in the 1990's.
It worth noting that after the Mumbai attacks inside India, Pakistan was put in a precarious position. With India blaming Pakistan for the attacks, India aligned itself more closely with the US Government in order to pressure the Pakistani Government to do more about "Domestic terrorism".
With an ever more belligerent India at its doorstep and a US Government also demanding Pakistani Cooperation or risk losing US support, Pakistan felt compelled to make war on the Pashtuns bordering Afghanistan.
In short the attacks on Mumbai SERVED US INTERESTS.
Given the claims now being made that Headly a CIA asset one can only wonder if he truly went "Rogue" or was acting under orders.
While this story might seem unrelated to the building of a Huge US prison in Bagram, all of these are linked.It speaks of a permament US prescence in the region and an EXPANSION of conflicts in the area.
Courtesy of the CIA.
A "CIA asset"?
How much "collateral damage" did he cause?
Is the construction of large prisons a similar euphemism for "nation building"?
"the prison would be handed over to the Afghan government"
Prisons - Merka's gift to the world. Oops - meant to say democracy. Whew!
Oh, this is rich:
"Upon becoming the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McCrystal made clear that he wanted to reform the treatment of detainees at Bagram."
Quoth the Torture Master of Camp Nama himself.
There is a story about a swordsman who was so skilled that he could skewer a raindrop. When it rained he carried a sword instead of an umbrella.
The US is so sick that it believes every problem can be solved by putting people in prison: Kids smoking pot to imprisoning whole armies.
In our tradition of innocent until proven guilty, we have about 60,000 innocent prisoners in the greater gulag locked up without charges or ant legal rights. How will we fill this prison? offer bounties again? or just grab anyone off the streets?
Andy Worthington's "Guantanamo Files" is a must read. Or visit his website.
Oh, great. Guantanamo East.
For 60 million tax dollars I think we could pay for a school, mosque and housing for far more that 1100 Afghans.
What about the moral superiority of the United States, don't you understand?
"It is the government's duty to deal with enemies of the state and criminals."
Chilling.
Coming soon to a country near you...or is it here already?
The prison indicates the long stay intentions of the Military Hegamon known as the Pentagon.
Base construction will carry on in Afghanistan, Pakistan and new ones are no doubt in planning stages.
The announcement of troop numbers surge will be accompanied by the usual lies about fighting terrorism, expressed in great eloquence by that well dressed newsreader called Obama.
Guantanamo is being kept open until the rest can be transferred to new places outside the sights of justice like Bagram.
It does not really matter too much what the Kabul regime is like, as long as there is one to provide a modicum of window dressing for the Pentagon occupation.
The only hope for finally ending the Afghanistan Occupation , Iraq and the long war, is the ending of the Pentagon Occupation of the United States Government.
"The only hope for finally ending the Afghanistan Occupation , Iraq and the long war, is the ending of the Pentagon Occupation of the United States Government."
That's it in a nutshell, folks. Got plans to bring change to the USA?
Growing food? Building skills? Talking to your neighbors?
Change is surely coming.
Nothing but good news coming out of this administration. "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."
camus13
For a country (USA) that has more people in prison than any country in the world it's great that we are building a $60 million job in Afghanistan. Are we finished here, not a pray, but it nice we are taking this world-wide.
Obomba said we have to keep a cap on any new Health Care bill cause we have few bucks. But prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq the sky is the limit.
I'm sorry, I forgot, Health Care would be for citizen of the United States. This is for the military and for that we can never say NO....ever.
"the prison would be handed over to the Afghan government"
They have it backwards...the Afgan "government" should be handed over to the prision.
Those who demonize Afghanistan or the Afghan government are responding to the provacations of imperialist propaganda.
No one is MORE criminal than the USA or israel not even China.
Think 100,000's dead Iraqis etc
No. It is imperialist propaganda that has demonized Afghanistan, and Iraq, and while we are at it, ANY Muslim.
The only "vocational training" the prisoners will learn in Bagram is retaliation if and when they finally get out.
They will learn important skills, like breathing through their ears (while being waterboarded), and proper construction (of ass pyramids), and womens fashion (the proper way to wear womans panties on your head while being forced to masturbate).
Maybe some guard dog oral hygene (how to floss a rabid guard dog with your own skin), basic electricity (attached to your johnson)and how to increase productivity (by never being allowed to sleep or sit down)
And the final test will be how to pass a forensic exam( AKA - autopsy)
When can the Afghans extradite Obama and Bush to their country so that they can be tried for war crimes and, before the trials begin, be sent to that prison at Bagram Air Base where they can answer charges that they had ordered crimes against humanity be committed against the Afghan people?
And we all know how progressive and humane American prisons are.
What we spend, per capita, on our military effort in Afghanistan, is about 3-10 times what the Afghans have to live on. Is there anything else to say about the respect the U.S, governing plutocracy has for an Afghan life?
I wonder how the average Afghan feels when they read that the U.S. military spends $400.00 per gallon for fuel and is spending around $800,000.00 per day in Ahghanistan for fuel.
One can only imagine the horrors that await the inmates of this charming edifice. Chains we can believe in.
"Chains we can believe in."
Nice.
"What is known is that prisoners have been treated severely at the old Bagram facility."
severely - that's a good one.
"In 2002, two prisoners died there..."
yep - sounds severe.
"Vocational Training," AQ Terrorists rehabilitated; From IED's to MBA's. Suicide Bombing to Urban Planning. From Torture Chambers to Chambers of Higher Learning.
My President has a Big Heart.
U.S. Military Unveils Huge New Prison in Afghanistan
The prison is called The United States. We, all of us, are the prisoners of this deluded, even insane, government. Warden Obama will kick your ass!
This tour of this illegal U.S. prison was last week. Gosh, I wonder why this story has been overlooked by our media.
As we focused on the growing numbers of homeless and hungry in this country in the lead-up to Thanksgiving, wouldn't we have been interested to know that we have just spent $60 million build a prison to house "up to" 1100 prisoners in Afganistan?
These prisoners will be held "indefinitely," but, in a nod to our degraded American ideas of justice, "will have access to non-attorney advocates." We have hung prisoners in Bagram from the ceiling and beaten their legs until we killed them. Of course, our victims hadn't even been tried or found guilty of anything before we murdered them.
As someone who grew up in the racist South, I wept with joy when Obama was elected. Now I wholeheartedly curse that day. I really believed Obama would be building, say, hospitals and water systems, not prisons.
Please, spare me the "you should have known better" posts. Like so many others who bought the "change we can believe in" lies, I KNOW I was stupid. I promise I have learned from my experience. Never again.
petrkrop: You weren't stupid just misled by a very good con man. The fact that you know you were misled and acknowledge the fact, is commendable and I would be the last one to be perjorative to you for voting for Obama; because you were well meaning and sincerely believed he would bring the change you wanted. Please support third party candidates. Thanks, Paul
Don't feel too lonely in your belief that Obama would change things. There were legions of us who were similarly misled.
Only when progressives become truly radical will things change in Amerikkka!
'As someone who grew up in the racist South, I wept with joy when Obama was elected. Now I wholeheartedly curse that day. I really believed Obama would be building, say, hospitals and water systems, not prisons....Like so many others who bought the "change we can believe in" lies, I KNOW I was stupid. I promise I have learned from my experience. Never again.'
I wholeheartedly share your sentiments. As someone who's supported democrats for many, many years, I get solicitations for money and 'surveys' (lol) every day from some democrat or another. I've taken to sending out a form letter in response making sure they know just how betrayed and angry I feel, how immoral their actions are, and that they can no longer count on me to vote for them simply because they call themselves 'democrat.' Don't care if they run palin/beck, I will only vote for true progressives or a third party.
Seems like the only "Change" this current administration is attempting to provide is taking the pea and slipping it from one hell-bent shell to the other.
This is really helping the people of Afghanistan! We will lock up all of Karzai's enemies which before too long will be almost the entire population. We will need many more prisons and I hope Blackwater gets the contracts as usual. Change we can beleive in!
We are not imprisoning Karzai's enemies we are imprisoning Afghans oppossing occupation of their nation.
This focus on Karzai is diverting people from the true villian, no its not the Burqa either.