International Justice Network: Attorneys Call For Immediate Release of Civilians Held at Bagram
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2008
11:35 AM
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CONTACT: International Justice Network
Mahdis Keshavarz
mahdis@themakeagency.com
425.591.8781
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Attorneys Call For Immediate Release of Civilians Held at Bagram
International Justice Network, Only Organization to
Represent Prisoners At Bagram Airforce Base,
Responds to Allegations of Prison Abuse
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NEW YORK - January 7 - Attorneys from the International Justice Network (IJN) today denounced the Bush Administration for their continued refusal to provide access to IJN clients currently held at the Bagram Airforce Base prison camp. Amid recent reports in the New York Times detailing how the Bush Administration's detention policy extends well beyond Guantánamo into facilities such as Bagram, IJN continues to express concern for their clients and call for the US government to comply with the Geneva Conventions and release civilians who are not involved in the conflict in Afghanistan.
Attorneys at IJN have long expressed concern at the growing population at Bagram and the continued efforts by Administration officials to strong-arm the Karzai government into adopting a US-like detention policy for alleged "Enemy Combatants." IJN has successfully argued on behalf of Bagram detainees before U.S. Federal Courts who have so far rejected the Bush Administration's position that U.S. courts lack jurisdiction to hear the cases. "As the only organization addressing the issues at Bagram and representing the interest of individuals detained there, it has not been our experience that we are dealing with Taliban fighters caught on the battlefield or in raids. None of our clients are, or have ever been, Taliban," stated Tina M. Foster, Executive Director of International Justice Network.
Attorneys with the International Justice Network have traveled to Afghanistan on numerous occasions and interviewed hundreds of Afghans who have been allegedly "captured" by US forces in Afghanistan. Based on those interviews and further investigations, IJN attributes the ballooning of the Bagram population to a number of ill-conceived strategies by the U.S. Government. Specifically:
- The continued "strategy" U.S. officials to authorize indiscriminate round-ups of large numbers of people - most of whom have no relevant information --- and keeping them in captivity for long periods of time in the hopes that interrogations might someday prove useful.
- The apprehension of Afghans is most often based on anonymous "tips" or other unreliable intelligence. Numerous Afghan sources working within the Karzai government cite poor intelligence as the primary roadblock in getting to the real Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Personal or tribal grudges often lead to false information being provided to US authorities, who then conduct arrests without further verification or investigation.
- Once a person has been imprisoned at Bagram, there is no incentive to quickly process and release such individuals - even if they pose no threat to US or allied forces. Indeed, it is the position of the current administration that there are no legal constraints on its ability to capture, interrogate, and indefinitely detain any person captured outside US territory.
Barbara Olshansky, Legal Director at International Justice Network said, "Many of our clients were apprehended, without any warrant or cause for arrest, as they were sitting at home peacefully enjoying an evening with their families - their houses were searched, their families were terrified, much of their property was destroyed, and in the end no weapons or contraband was found. Yet five years later, they are still in prison and there is no incentive to get them processed out of the system - so there they sit."
The International Justice Network (IJN) leads human rights initiatives around the world by providing direct legal assistance and expertise to victims of human rights abuses and by creating a global network of legal professionals, non-governmental organizations and community-based human rights advocates in order to protect and promote human rights and the rule of law. IJN attorneys currently represent a number of Afghan detainees held at the Bagram prison.
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