UN: Detainees tortured in Afghanistan

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-10-11-01-44

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Suspected Taliban fighters have been subjected to beatings, electric shocks and other forms of torture in some Afghan-run detention centers but the abuse was not the result of government policy, the United Nations said Monday.

The 74-page U.N. report found that detainees in 47 facilities in 24 provinces run by the Afghan National Police and the Directorate of Security suffered interrogation techniques that constituted torture under both international and Afghan law.

The NATO-led international military coalition announced last month that it had stopped transferring detainees to 16 of the facilities. NATO was taking action to help fix the problem before resuming the transfers, the report said.

The report said Afghan security ministries cooperated with the investigation and have taken measures to stop the abuse after being presented with the report. Although Afghan security officials have long been suspected of torturing detainees to elicit information and confessions, the report for the first time confirms the practice and outlines much of the abuse.