The appalling conditions in an Afghan prison near Mazar-i-Sharif violate international standards for the treatment of prisoners, says a report from Physicians for Human Rights.
Up to 3500 Pakistani and Afghan Taliban fighters are being held at Shebarghan prison, which is severely overcrowded. Cells built to house 10-15 prisoners now contain 80-110 men. The water supply is unclean, the food inadequate, the sanitation non-existent, and prisoners are exposed to the winter cold.
A three member delegation from Physicians for Human Rights has just returned from visiting the prison, where they were allowed to observe several hundred prisoners and talk to some of them. They found that dysentery and jaundice, probably resulting from hepatitis A, are prevalent, and many prisoners complained of abdominal and respiratory problems.
The lack of medical supplies and the primitive infirmary the delegates observed make it clear that it is difficult to provide even basic medical care. The prison's commander told the delegation that he did not have the funds to look after the men properly and that “many, many, many prisoners” had already died.
Most of the men in the prison are believed to have been brought there last December after surrendering at Kunduz. From then until 14 January access to the prison was under control of the US military. During this time US military personnel interviewed the prisoners to select those whom they wished to move to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for further questioning.
In a strongly worded statement Physicians for Human Rights says that because the United States was involved in military activities that contributed to the capture of the men “it cannot wash its hands of responsibility for prisoners whose fate it has been able to influence or determine.”
It is urging the US government and the international community to support the Afghan administration in improving conditions at Shebarghan prison and other similar detention centres in the country. It has also called for the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, and non-governmental humanitarian organisations to be granted full access.
The crisis at Shebarghan prison is indicative of the overall deterioration of security in Afghanistan, Leonard Rubenstein, director of the group, warned. “The Afghan military does not have the training, manpower, or resources to uphold international humanitarian law, and the United States should not turn away from its responsibility to provide the tools it needs to do it.” (See p 318.)
The full report is available at www.phrusa.org
Figure.
AP PHOTO/EFREM LUKATSKY
Inmates gaze through the bars of Shebarghan prison