NATO accused of torture in Afghanistan
In a new report, Afghanistan: Detainees transferred to torture: ISAF complicity? , released today, Amnesty International charged that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan is exposing detainees to risks of torture or other ill-treatment by Afghan authorities.
The report documents how ISAF forces — particularly those from Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and Norway — have transferred detainees to Afghanistan’s intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), despite consistent reports of torture and other ill-treatment by the NDS.
“As a primary financial supporter of the National Directorate of Security, the United States has the responsibility to ensure that no further torture is committed,” said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “This means not funding the NDS until the transfers of detainees to Afghan authorities is suspended and effective safeguards are established.
“The Bush administration should demonstrate that the United States still cares about human rights in the war on terror, and use its position in NATO to encourage its partners to ensure that ISAF forces are not complicit in the torture of detainees in Afghanistan,” said T. Kumar,
Amnesty International USA advocacy director for Asia and the Pacific.
The United Nations reiterated its concerns about the NDS as recently as September 2007, when it called for investigations into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment by the NDS. Over the past two years,Amnesty International has received numerous reports of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees by the NDS, including beatings, exposure to extreme cold and food deprivation.
The following testimony was given to Amnesty International in 2005:
“We were taken to the NDS compound in Kandahar… I was beaten on my back and especially my kidneys with a metal cable… A metal bar was placed under my chained arms and knees and I was hung from the hook on the ceiling and they continued to beat me. I was hung in this position for maybe one hour and lost consciousness.”
Amnesty International highlights cases in which detainees reported being tortured after Canadian forces handed them to Afghan authorities.
The following account was confirmed by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission:
“Gul Mohammed, 25, a farmer, said he was captured by Canadians while working the fields west of Kandahar city. The Canadian troops handed him over to Afghan soldiers, starting what he described as a bloody six-month odyssey at the hands of Afghan interrogators from the military, police and intelligence services. He said they beat him with rifle butts, deprived him of sleep, shocked him with electrical probes, and thrashed him with bundles of cables.”
In addition, the report illustrates how the Belgian and Norwegian governments lost track of transferred detainees and the difficulties encountered by the British and Dutch forces in ensuring independent monitoring of detainees in Afghan custody.
The report also examines Memorandums of Understanding and other bilateral agreements between the Afghan government and ISAF forces including those from Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.
“NATO must work with its forces to ensure that the bilateral agreements are adhered to and detainees are treated in accordance with international standards,” said Cox. “Otherwise, these agreements have less value than the paper they are written on.”
Amnesty International recommends that the ISAF temporarily suspend all detainee transfers to Afghan authorities and that independent monitors be given unrestricted access to all detention centers and unsupervised access to all detainees.
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