Rights Expert Berates US on Afghan Detentions (Trafficking of children )

[Whoa_Nelly]

KABUL, 22 August 2004 — A UN human rights expert yesterday slammed US military authorities in Afghanistan for barring him from visiting detention centers and pronounced a Kabul prison “inhuman.” Cherif Bassiouni said: “The lack of giving an opportunity for people to go and see these facilities is a lack of transparency that raises serious concerns about the legality of detention ... and conditions of those detainees.”

Former prisoners say they were tortured and abused while in US custody, raising concerns that scandal over the mistreatment of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison earlier this year was not an isolated episode. The US military, which had earlier this month been expected to release an internal report into allegations of prisoner abuse, turned down his request to visit centers where suspected Afghani fighters are held.

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The rights controversy was stirred by the arrest of three US citizens in Kabul in early July for illegally detaining and torturing Afghans. The leader of a vigilante group, Jonathan “Jack” Idema said no torture was used during interrogations and his group colluded with US security agencies as well as the Department of Defense. The US authorities have denied any link with Idema’s group, and their trial resumes on Monday.

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“These constitute gross violations of fundamental human rights and include extra judicial execution, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, inhuman conditions of detention, forceful seizure of private property, child abduction, trafficking of children and slave-like practices with respect of women,” he said.

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