Afghanistan: ‘Change’ at US-run prison camp?

[IndianaGreen]

Afghanistan: ‘Change’ at US-run prison camp?

Alex Harrison
9 December 2009

US officials in Afghanistan have unveiled a “new” detention facility within the US military-run Bagram Airbase called the Detention Facility in Parwan (DFP).

Despite the new label, and a slight shift in location, the new detention facility will house even more detainees than Guantanamo Bay. It will continue to hold them in conditions contrary to international human rights law.

There are about 700 people held at Bagram, including 30 non-Afghans and five children. This number is approximate because the Obama administration refuses to release a comprehensive list of detainees.

There are three prisons within Bagram. There is the main prison, which will move to the DFP, a second run by a US special operations team, and a third, which is a CIA-run facility.

Not much is known about the last two.

Conditions within the main prison largely remain secret due to restrictions placed on visitors. For the first time, reporters were invited into Bagram to unveil the new facility, but they were unable to interview detainees or guards.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/821/42221