U.N. Monitor of Afghan Rights Accuses U.S. on Detentions (NYT)

[struggle4progress]

By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: April 23, 2005

ABUL, Afghanistan, April 22 - A United Nations human rights monitor has accused American military forces and contractors in Afghanistan of acting above the law "by engaging in arbitrary arrests and detentions and committing abusive practices, including torture." In a report released Thursday, the Afghan police and security forces were also criticized for similar actions.

Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian who was appointed as an independent human rights monitor for Afghanistan by Secretary General Kofi Annan in April 2004, called for American troops to set an example for Afghan forces by showing accountability for actions toward prisoners. In particular, he raised concern about the cases of eight prisoners who died while in American custody in Afghanistan, and said the cases should be immediately investigated.

Only two American soldiers, Pfc. Willie V. Brand and Sgt. James P. Boland, are known to have faced military tribunals in the deaths of Afghan prisoners, in a case in which two Afghans were abused until they died in December 2002 at Bagram Air Base. Neither case has been publicly decided. A contract interrogator for the C.I.A., David A. Passaro, is to go to trial in May in the beating of an Afghan prisoner in June 2003.

Mr. Bassiouni's report covered all aspects of human rights violations in Afghanistan, detailing concerns about inequities against women, abduction and trafficking of children, illegal seizure of property, lack of due process and social and economic abuses against minorities, displaced people, the poor and the disabled. There has been some progress, he said, specifically in the democratic process and reconstruction. <snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/23/international/asia/23afghanistan.html?

[EFerrari]

1. To the people of Afghanistan, I apologize for my criminal

government.

And these deaths that are being interrogated by the U.N. monitor are only a figure for the abuses that have been committed in our name.

"Convoy of Death"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3267.htm

We have to stop the brutality: www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[0007]

2. I highly recommend the "Convoy of Death" to be watched by all

of humanity even the freepers should know these dirty little secrets.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3267.ht...