Obama Nearly Triples Bagram Detainee Population

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The report– “Detained and Denied in Afghanistan: How to Make U.S. Detention Comply with the Law” –is based on the observation by Human Rights First of hearings given to detainees by the U.S. military in Sept. 2010 and Feb. 2011, as well as an Afghan trial supported by the U.S. military in February. In addition, HRF conducted interviews with 18 former detainees, all of whom had been released from U.S. custody within the previous year. This report follows up on Human Rights First’s earlier report, issued two years ago, on US and Afghan detention practices in Afghanistan.

According to today’s report, there have been a number of improvements over the past two years, since the suspension of the Bush administration’s completely secret detainee assessment process. For example, the Obama Administration now allows detainees to attend at least a portion of a hearing and address a board of U.S. military officers examining their case. Each detainee is now assigned a “personal representative” to help present the case and is entitled to a new status hearing every six months. The military has also implemented some of the recommendations that Human Rights First made in its last report, such as:

• Allowing human rights organizations to observe hearings;
  
  
• Excluding evidence obtained through torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment;
  
  
• Embarking on efforts to improve the prosecution of national security detainees in Afghan courts.

Even so, Human Rights First’s on-the-ground research in Afghanistan revealed that the current detention system remains plagued by failures to comply with international law. Case examples drawn from this research are featured in the report to underscore Human Rights First’s key findings:

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“Even after the United States withdraws the bulk of its troops from Afghanistan, ongoing support for its fledgling justice system will be necessary, and critical to the country’s stable development,” Eviatar concludes. “Human Rights First urges the United States government to take a long-term view of the problem and to commit to civilian assistance for Afghan judges, lawyers and legal institutions far into the future.”