Ex-prisoner unveils abuse in Bagram US army jails
2010/03/01 FNA
An Afghan national, recently released from the US army jails in Bagram Air Base, said that Muslim prisoners are brutally mistreated by the US forces at the base.
Speaking to FNA in Kabul on Monday, Muallem Farouq described conditions in the Bagram jails as "indescribable", and added that during his 6-month term in Bagram, he was fed on leftovers and pork (which is banned food in the religion of Islam).
He added that they forced him to stand still barefooted on snow.
Mentioning that the Bagram prison has been divided into the two wards of the Caspian and the Main Flour, Farouq said that after he was transferred to Bagram from Qandahar, he spent 10 nights in the Caspian and then transferred to Main Flour.
Farouq further explained that in Bagram, 20 to 30 prisoners are kept in one room and the US guards treat them as wild animals.
Bagram Air Base - known and referred to by US military as Bagram Airfield - is a militarized airport and housing complex that is located next to the ancient city of Bagram, 11 kilometers southeast of Charikar in Parvan province of Afghanistan.
It is often referred to as Bagram Air Base. The base is currently occupied and maintained by the US Army.
Bagram Air Base has three large hangars, a control tower, and numerous support buildings. There are more than 32 acres (130,000 m²) of ramp space and five aircraft dispersal areas, with a total of over 110 revetments. Many support buildings and base housing built by the Red Army during the occupation by the Soviets.
Torture and abuse of prisoners in Bagram were first disclosed in 2005, when the New York Times obtained a 2,000-page US Army report concerning the homicides of two unarmed civilian Afghan prisoners by US armed forces in 2002 at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Bagram.
The prisoners, Habibullah and Dilawar, were chained to the ceiling and beaten, which caused their deaths. Military Coroners ruled that both the prisoners' deaths were homicides. Autopsies revealed severe trauma to both prisoners' legs, describing the trauma as comparable to being run over by a bus. Seven soldiers were charged.
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