BOSTON
- June 13 - Video testimonies released yesterday in Germany by British filmmaker Jamie
Doran implicate US armed forces and Northern Alliance fighters in
the deaths of Taliban prisoners and the disposal of their remains
in graves near Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. These graves were first
visited in January by a team from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR),
subsequently leading to international attention and a preliminary
forensic assessment completed in February by PHR’s International
Forensic Program. (see www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/report_graves.html).
PHR personnel seconded to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan
(UNAMA) revisited the site in March and dug a test trench that revealed
the remains of 15 people. The team also performed autopsies on three
bodies that suggested suffocation was the cause of their death.
PHR believes the site could be the disposal ground of Taliban prisoners
who had surrendered to the Northern Alliance in November and December
2001. [PHR has separately reported on the conditions of the nearby
Shebarghan prison, which a PHR team visited in January—visit
www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/report.html]
The video testimonies contain eyewitnesses claiming to have seen US military personnel and others beat, torture, shoot, and execute captured Taliban fighters after the fall of Kunduz in November 2001. These witnesses, some of whom identify themselves as drivers of container trucks carrying prisoners, also attest to US and Northern Alliance involvement in the disposal of dead prisoners. PHR has not been able to determine the credibility of the allegations made by these alleged eyewitnesses in the film. However, the testimonies, which are sufficiently detailed, along with the fact that PHR investigators found recent remains in the area described by the alleged witnesses, underscore the need for a full investigation.
PHR urgently reiterates its call for immediate protection of the gravesite by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) or proper authorities as well as the need for a full forensic investigation of the site to ensure that the responsible parties are held accountable.
"If these sites and others are not protected and thoroughly investigated, an accurate accounting will not be possible," said Leonard S. Rubenstein, PHR’s executive director.
For the past five months, PHR has been urging the Afghan Interim Authority, the United Nations, the United States, and its coalition partners to protect the mass grave sites in Afghanistan and to develop a plan for their careful and objective investigation. In a March 1 letter delivered to Chairman Hamid Karzai and copied to all permanent members of the UN Security Council, PHR said, "proper examination of bodies found in mass graves and dignified burial of remains are essential elements of a truth and accountability process" and that "such a process is also critical for future peace and stability in Afghanistan." (text of letter is available at: www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/karzai_letter.html)
To date, no action has been taken by the international community to secure the integrity of the sites or to initiate a full exhumation of the graves.
PHR’s International Forensic Program has documented mass graves, political killings, and collected DNA evidence for identifications of the missing in dozens of nations including work with the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia. Dr. Bill Haglund, Ph.D., is the program’s director. Physicians for Human Rights, a co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, promotes health by protecting human rights.
