Afghan prisoners beaten to death at US military interrogation base
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Friday March 07, 2003 16:14
by damnbutter
Two prisoners who died while being held for interrogation at the US military base in Afghanistan had apparently been beaten, according to a military pathologist's report. A criminal investigation is now under way into the deaths which have both been classified as homicides.
The following report is carried in The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,909294,00.html
Afghan prisoners beaten to death at US military interrogation base
'Blunt force injuries' cited in murder ruling
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles
Friday March 7, 2003
The Guardian
Two prisoners who died while being held for interrogation at the US military base in Afghanistan had apparently been beaten, according to a military pathologist's report. A criminal investigation is now under way into the deaths which have both been classified as homicides.
The deaths have led to calls for an inquiry into what interrogation techniques are being used at the base where it is believed the al-Qaida leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is now also being held. Former prisoners at the base claim that detainees are chained to the ceiling, shackled so tightly that the blood flow stops, kept naked and hooded and kicked to keep them awake for days on end.
The two men, both Afghans, died last December at the US forces base in Bagram, north of Kabul, where prisoners have been held for questioning. The autopsies found they had suffered "blunt force injuries" and classified both deaths as homicides.
A spokesman for the Pentagon said yesterday it was not possible to discuss the details of the case because of the proceeding investigation. If the investigation finds that the prisoners had been unlawfully killed during interrogation, it could lead to both civil and military prosecutions. He added that it was not clear whether only US personnel had had access to the men.
One of the dead prisoners, known only as Dilawar, died as a result of "blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease", according to the death certificate signed by Major Elizabeth Rouse, a pathologist with the Washington-based Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, which operates under the auspices of the defence department. The dead man was aged 22 and was a farmer and part-time taxi-driver. He was said to have had an advanced heart condition and blocked arteries.
Chris Kelly, a spokesman for the institute, said yesterday that their pathologists were involved in all cases on military bases where there were unusual or suspicious deaths. He was not aware of any other homicides of prisoners held since September 11. He said that the definition of homicide was "death resulting from the intentional or grossly reckless behaviour of another person or persons" but could also encompass "self-defence or justifiable killings".
The death certificates for the men have four boxes on them giving choices of "natural, accident, suicide, homicide". The Pentagon said yesterday that the choice of "homicide" did not necessarily mean that the dead person had been unlawfully killed. There was no box which would indicate that a pathologist was uncertain how a person had died.
It is believed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, described as the number three in al-Qaida, is being interrogated at Bagram. He is said to have started providing information about the possible whereabouts of Osama bin Laden whom he is said to have met in Pakistan last month. Most al-Qaida suspects are being held outside the US which means that they are not entitled to access to the US judicial system.
Two former prisoners at the base, Abdul Jabar and Hakkim Shah, told the New York Times this week that they recalled seeing Dilawar at Bagram. They said that they had been kept naked, hooded and shackled and were deprived of sleep for days on end. Mr Shah said that American guards kicked him to stop him falling asleep and that on one occasion he had been kicked by a woman interrogator, while her male colleague held him in a kneeling position.
The commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, General Daniel McNeill, said that prisoners were made to stand for long periods but he denied that they were chained to the ceiling. "Our interrogation techniques are adapted," he said.
"They are in accordance with what is generally accepted as interrogation techniques, and if incidental to the due course of this investigation, we find things that need to be changed, we will certainly change them."
In January, in his state of the union address, President George Bush announced that "3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries" and "many others have met a different fate" and "are no longer a problem to the United States".
The other death being investigated is that of Mullah Habibullah, the brother of a former Taliban commander. His death certificate indicates that he died of a pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot in the lung.
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Comments (19 of 19)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19The Independent also carried the story
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=384604
That Anglo-American Imperialism would beat prisoners to death, this is really shocking news. Who would ever have thought they'd do that.
This is worrying news for anyone concerend about human rights.
However, I wouldn't go so far as to say "God help them". They would have no qualms about slitting someone's throat if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Humane treatment yes, sympathy no.
"They would have no qualms about slitting someone's throat if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Maybe you've missed that they were being held there for interrogation. Who are you to judge them?
Are all dark-skinned muslims potential murderers in your opinion?
Our own brave soldiers are part of the US Central Command that is ordering this torture and indeed they sleep in the same compound where the torture takes place during the day. Can they hear the screams? Are they guilty of complicity in torture?
They're not prisoners in any legal sense. They have to be held securely because they're dangerous.
It's naive to think that the natural "innocent until proven guilty" philosophy can be used for them. It's also naive to think that there could possibly be a case of mistaken identity.
The US says they are not Prisoners so they are not entitled to protection under the law. Do Americans really believe that? What utter and absolute lies they tell in the most brazen of manners .
People of intellect who use their mind to justify torture and murder are also complicit in the comittal of those offences. Like trying to manipulte public opinion to accept torture.
And if there turns out to one or two in every thousand that are "guilty" of Anti-US imperialst thoughts, then is it ok to torture them? Who is next, if this is to be the new international code?
unfortunately the poor peoples in many third world countries oppressed by the USA dont have this luxory. Are some indymedia readers really suprised the USA is torturing and beating prisoners to death. They have been training the armies of third world dictators to do this to their populations for years in the infamous School of The Americas and other US bases. This is documented and they dont even bother to deny this anymore.
The USA military and CIA is evil and fascist and nobody should be suprised at all that they are torturing and killing defensless prisoners. The Nazis also specialised in this, ever hear of the gestapo?
RESIST RESIST RESIST
why do they destroy our peace?? killing 2 men has cross the line!peace rally at washington on the 22
We're truly lost as a nation. The way we justify the things we do is appalling! For years we debated if birthing a fully developed healthy baby all the way out of the womb excluding the head and sucking it's brains out was wrong. Funnier yet, we debated if the baby was alive "because its head never came out".
What kind of illogical, sadistic, self centered country have we become? Why have the majority of people cheered this butchery on with the prisoners (that is what they are)? We justify everything to fit our own selfish ends and ignore the dishonor or repercussions our actions bring to ourselves and our victims.
Let me clue some of you in, it doesn't matter what others would do to us. Our actions define who we as a people are. If we resort to these tactics our country will inevtably become what we feel the dictatorships of the world are, utterly oppressive. Keep supporting this nonsense and the attack on our civil rights. In no time flat we'll wake up wondering where our kids, parents, and friends are because the government decided their ideas or beliefs made them potential terrorists. Don't believe it can happen read the Patriot Act and the soon to be Patriot II at and it clearly spells it out. They call them enemy combatants and your US citizenship can be revoked if they label you as such.
US citizens need to lose the deparavity in themselves soon or we won't recognize the country we live in over the next few years.
The described abortion should be illegal. That notwithstanding, have you forgotten the 3000+ that died 9/11. Can you fathom what some of these people suffered before choking to death, being crushed, burning to death? Our own people, and the people of many other countries. But come on. All those americans. Who were the terrorists to judge our lives? Remember that day. Remember what they did to our people. Let the government handle the heavy stuff. After all, we are one powerful country, and we didn't get that way because we let people wipe their feet all over us. My thoughts to the families of all of our soldiers - may they come home safe and sound. And my most sincere condolensces to the 9/11 families. Some of us have not forgotten.
what right does the AMERICANS(GEORGE BUSH AND MIR BLUR OR BLAIR OR WHATEVER THEY CALL THEMSELVES) have to tell other countries how to do their thing?
I am so disappointed in american attitudes right now.Why are you against france and germany for lobbying for peace? and boycotting and making fun of them etc.
If you really think about it they should be commended, choosing peace over war is the right thing in my book any day. maybe you wouldnt feel the same when you get the call that your son, daughter or brother was killed in the action of defending people that didnt ask to be defended or "liberated".
And the peace protesters, calling them anti-american. Isnt freedom of choice and speech why you're invading iraq right now? so the iraqis can have it but your own country men must shut up?sounds strange to me.
just a small island opinion
You talk about the Iraqi people not asking to be defended or liberated, would you speak out against your leader if you knew you & your family faced certain torture and probably death.
You are missing the big picture here, for the sake of the Iraqi people this man has to be taken out, and Iraq will at least have a chance to form a democratic society.
Or do we just sit back and let him murder and torture anyone who speaks against him.
La nueva invasión de un pais soberano por el ejercito norteamericano, decidida unilateralmente por el gobierno USA, retrotrae la civilización occidental al siglo XIX donde las leyes internacionales no existían y regía la ley del más fuerte, economica y militarmente.
Los pretextos aducidos por G. Bush, no pueden enmascarar los móviles de la agresión militar: eliminar un hipotetico peligro para el estado de Israel, controlar el petroleo y vengar la destrucción de los rascacielos de New York.
USA desde Viet-Nam se ha especizalido en agresiones militares alevosas, donde se agrede a enemigos en situación de inferioridad en todos los sentidos.
I couldn't agree more. What we are seeing began in my mind as the American Way - pathetic. Now it's going beyond the ridiculous.
I can not imagine how this will end. The more public evidence, the more fury and tension building between the East and West. I feel ashamed to be British most of the time, luckily I don't feel ashamed to be myself - I just can't bare patriotism, it seems to breed fear between nations in similar ways to which religion has over the years.
The damage is done now. I fear for the future, I really do. It's incredibly frightening.