Inhumane treatment of Prisioners in Shebergan

Former Taliban fighters sit inside a cell at a jail complex in Shebargan, .Sunday, Dec. 9, 2001, after they surrendered to the northern alliance following their defeat in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yuri Kozyrev)
 

Pro-Taliban fighters including some foreigners who were captured by Northern Alliance huddle each other in Sibirgan prison near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i Sharif, December 4, 2001. Around 3,350 prisoners were put in this prison. REUTERS/Faruk Zabci

Pro-Taliban fighters including foreigners nest behind the iron bars to gain some space in an overcrowded Sibirgan prison near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i Sharif, December 5, 2001. Some 3,350 pro-Taliban prisoners were locked in this prison after they were captured by Northern Alliance. REUTERS/Faruk Zabci-HURRIYET (TURKEY OUT)

Former Taliban fighters sit in the courtyard of a jail complex in Shebargan, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2001, town northwest of Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan a week after they surrendered to the northern alliance following their defeat in the town of Kunduz. (AP Photo)

Taliban prisoners take a bath and wash their clothes in a metal container in a prison in Shibergan, 120 km (75 miles) west of Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2002. The prison is controlled by the forces of Gen. Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek who rules much of northern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Alexander Merkushev)

Several detainees sit as soldiers and Military Police process them in Afghanistan's Sherberghan prison December 31, 2001. Three former ministers of the ousted Taliban government surrendered and more al Qaeda fighters were captured, but the U.S.-led hunt for Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar entered its fourth month with the trail growing cold. Picture released January 8, 2002. (USAF via Reuters)

Afghan prisoners are seen behind the bars in this file photo made Dec. 23, 2001 in Shibergan prison, northern Afghanistan. U.S. forces sealed off the northern Afghanistan prison Saturday Dec. 29 2001 so they could transfer detainees, foreigners and possibly some Afghans, to a staging area for suspected al-Qaida and Taliban members, some of whom could face US military tribunals.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Former Taliban fighters sit inside a cell at a jail complex in Shebargan, .Sunday, Dec. 9, 2001, after they surrendered to the northern alliance following their defeat in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yuri Kozyrev)

Taliban prisoners are shown in the courtyard of Sibirgan prison near the city of Mazar-e Sharif, northern Afghanistan, Wednesday Dec. 5, 2001. About 3,350 pro-Taliban fighters are locked in Sibirgan prison after they were captured by northern alliance forces under the command of Uzbek warlord Gen. Rashid Dostum. (AP Photo/Hurriyet) ** TURKEY OUT **

Taliban prisoners have their lunch in the court yard of Sibirgan prison near the city of Mazar-e Sharif, northern Afghanistan, Wednesday Dec. 5, 2001. About 3,350 pro-Taliban fighters are locked in Sibirgan prison after they were captured by northern alliance forces under the command of Uzbek warlord Gen. Rashid Dostum. (AP Photo/Hurriyet) ** TURKEY OUT **

January 28, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHOTOS: High resolution images available at http://www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/photos_jan02.html or by calling Michelle Sachs at 617 695-0041 ext. 221 or msachs@phrusa.org

Contact: Nathaniel Raymond (617) 413-6407 cell;
Barbara Ayotte (617) 549-0152 cell; (202) 728-5335 PHR-DC office

(National Press Club, Washington, DC) A delegation from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) returned from Afghanistan last week and reported today on the deplorable conditions they inspected at Shebarghan Prison, currently holding over 3,000 ex-combatants west of Mazar-I-Sharif. The investigators found severe overcrowding, non-existent sanitation, exposure to winter cold, inadequate food and no medical supplies, resulting in epidemic illness and deaths. PHR has concluded that the conditions at the prison are in grave violation of international standards for the treatment of prisoners.

During the first two to three weeks of prisoner arrivals, US military authorities controlled access to the facility. During this time US forces were conducting prisoner interviews to select those that they wished to move to Kandahar and, later, Guantánamo Bay for further questioning. U.S. military reportedly departed from the prison during the week of January 14, 2002.

PHR believes that the US is responsible for ensuring improvements are made to this prison and urges President Bush to discuss conditions at Shebarghan when he meets with Afghan Chairman Hamid Karzai in Washington today.

The conditions in the prison are part of the widespread and very dangerous insecurity in Afghanistan. This includes reprisal attacks in Kabul and Mazar-I-Sharif against Pashtun civilians and the current partition of Mazar-I-Sharif into ethnic factions. PHR believes that a pullout of coalition forces from this area is premature and would only give the numerous warlords and commanders the green light to pursue their independent objectives. A successful effort to rebuild Afghanistan will depend on security, the medical group said. PHR urges the US and other international coalition members to provide an external security force in particularly vulnerable areas beyond Kabul. PHR also urges the Coalition to undertake a plan for disarmament and demobilization.

Findings on Conditions at Shebarghan Prison
(Full report available at http://www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/report.html)

The facilities, under the direction of associates of General Abdul-Rashid Dostum, are entirely inadequate for the care of the estimated 3,000-3,500 of prisoners currently held there. The quantity and nutritional value of the food is insufficient to the needs of the prison population, the water supply is unclean, sanitation is virtually absent, the available clothing meager, and the barred walls open to the elements expose the inhabitants to winter conditions. The group said that lack of supplies and primitive facilities hamper the prison's capacity to provide even basic medical care. Dysentery and yellow jaundice, likely due to Hepatitis A, are epidemic. The PHR delegation observed 300 prisoners and interviewed eight in the prison infirmary. Many prisoners complained of stomach problems and respiratory problems and several had itchy skin and rashes. According to the commander of the facility who escorted the PHR delegation, General Jarobak, "many, many, many prisoners had already died", mainly from dysentery, some from pneumonia. The prisoners in the infirmary appeared to be very weak and had difficulty speaking.

The group reported that, according to General Jarobak, the cells were originally constructed to house 10-15 prisoners and now 80-110 men are held in each cell. Prison authorities said that approximately 1,000 of these prisoners are Pakistanis, others are Afghan Taliban fighters who surrendered at Kunduz in December 2001, while some (approximately 100-150) have been held at Shebarghan since before the Taliban rose to power in the late-1990's.

Under international humanitarian law, all combatants, whether designated prisoners of war under the Third Geneva Convention, or detainees in an internal armed conflict under Common Article 3 of the Conventions, must be granted adequate food, shelter, water, and medical care.

The United States was engaged in military activities that contributed to the capture of these prisoners, and until recently controlled access to them. "The United States cannot wash its hands of responsibility for prisoners whose fate from the start it has been in a position to influence or determine," said Jennifer Leaning, MD, a PHR board member and member of the delegation. "The military units under General Dostum do not have the resources to support a prison population of this size."

Physicians for Human Rights did not observe all of the cell blocks in the prison, but from their interviews and observations there were not indications that the prisoners are being deliberately abused, tortured or psychologically tormented. The prison administration is aware that the life supports provided are alarmingly deficient. The commanding officer has submitted requests for further assistance and additional resources to the international community, though he reports that the response has been minimal.

"The crisis at Shebarghan Prison is indicative of the overall deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan," said Leonard S. Rubenstein, J.D. Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights. "Afghanistan's interim administration must have the training, personnel and resources needed to uphold international humanitarian law, and the United States should not turn away from its responsibility to provide the tools needed to do it."

Photo Gallery Courtesy of Physicians for Human Rights
( http://www.phrusa.org )

Greater Commitment to Security and Reconstruction of Afghanistan Needed

Though PHR welcomed the renewed commitment by the U.S. and other international donors for reconstruction of Afghanistan, the level of support pledged at the Tokyo donor conference is not consistent with what is needed to rebuild Afghanistan. (See PHR letter to President Bush prior to Tokyo Donor's Conference at http://www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/field_011802.html).

Some estimates say that up to 85% of the country's infrastructure has been destroyed. A strategic long-term reconstruction plan, which begins with the recognition that the needs are in the order of scores of billions over the next several years, should be based on the realistic assessment of human and political security priorities.

PHR issued the following recommendations for increased funding and assistance for reconstruction, especially pertaining to urgent security concerns:

The Interim Administration for Afghanistan, with the close support of the United States government and the international community, should work quickly to provide both the security and resources needed to improve conditions at Shebarghan Prison and other similar facilities in Afghanistan. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN, and non-governmental humanitarian organizations should be granted full access to these facilities to ensure that international humanitarian law is being upheld.

Afghanistan's deteriorating security situation should be responded to with an urgent expansion of the international force and a comprehensive disarmament plan for fighters from all sides. Reducing the amount of weapons available to combatants while increasing the size and locations in which the force is deployed is key to stabilizing Afghanistan.

The United States government should immediately increase its funding for mine removal and ordnance clearance in Afghanistan to compensate for the upwards of $15 million of damage done to UNMAPA (UN Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan) facilities and equipment by Coalition air strikes. The current allotment of $7 million to UNMAPA activities is not an appropriate disbursement given that mine experts believe that its budget will have to be doubled from $20 million annually to $43 million, in order to adequately respond to the new, more complicated ordnance, including cluster bombs, dropped by the Coalition.

Funding for reconstruction must be substantially increased. PHR reiterates its call to President Bush to support a vigorous and sustained American program of emergency, reconstruction, and development aid to Afghanistan. Without an immediate infusion of significant funds for basic salaries, schools, health care, police and a judicial system, the fragile peace could rapidly unravel and regional stability deteriorate.

The recruitment and support of women health professionals, including midwives, doctors, and nurses, must be an immediate priority. Afghanistan has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, with almost half of deaths of women in their child-bearing years attributable to childbirth. Women's health is deeply compromised in other ways, too, including their vulnerability to acute depression and suicide. The health sector in Afghanistan is grossly underdeveloped in every area and in recent years has been degraded even further by corruption, looting, banditry, and by donors' inability to carry out activities within Afghanistan. The health system is also peculiarly compromised by the Taliban's restrictions on education for women and girls, and their prohibition on women in the work force. These restrictions, now lifted, have nonetheless assured that professional schools have graduated no women doctors and nurses, with no generation of girls ready to enter this year's class.

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Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), based in Boston and Washington, DC, promotes health by protecting human rights. The organization shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize as a founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. It has been documenting the health and human rights situation in Afghanistan since 1997. The current delegation was in Afghanistan from January 7-23, 2002.
For more information please visit http://www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/index.html.
Read PHR's latest Afghanistan report Women's Health and Human Rights in Afghanistan at
www.phrusa.org/campaigns/afghanistan/Afghan_report.html