2 Ex-Prisoners in Afghanistan Tell of Abuse

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. forces Saturday promised to launch their second investigation in a week of prison abuse charges in Afghanistan, after an ex-detainee interviewed by The Times offered a detailed account of alleged physical and psychological torment.

Meanwhile, a U.S.-based human rights group spoke of a pattern of widespread abuses in the country, the original front in the U.S. war on terrorism. Human Rights Watch also renewed a request that coalition authorities offer explanations for the beating deaths of two prisoners in American custody in Afghanistan that have been under military investigation for more than one year.

In Washington, the U.S. commander of forces in Afghanistan, while not acknowledging that prisoner abuse is a problem here, said he is nonetheless initiating changes in the handling of prisoners and issuing new guidance to troops on how to treat them with “dignity and respect.”

The former prisoner who spoke to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday described being hung from a ceiling and dropped to the ground. A second former prisoner who also spoke to The Times last week said he was forced to lie down naked while an unknown object was inserted in his rectum. Authorities Wednesday announced an investigation into the allegations by the latter prisoner, a colonel in the Afghan police force.

The men said they were held prisoner for four months and two months respectively, but never charged. They said some of the abuses took place during weeks of incarceration in a facility in Gardez that has not been visited by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which customarily inspects the main U.S. detention center at Bagram air base.

Responding to the allegations of the former prisoner who was interviewed Thursday, a coalition military spokesman, Lt. Col. Tucker Mansager, said Saturday that “an immediate investigation” has been launched and that the coalition is “committed to ensuring that all detainees are treated humanely and consistent with international law.”

Maboob Ahmad, 35, a farm laborer who was in custody for four months starting July 2003, was interviewed in his home. He recounted being beaten and kept in uncomfortable positions for long periods and being forced to drink 12 bottles of water within five minutes. He said that the forced drinking of water was a common tactic used during interrogation sessions at the Gardez military base about 60 miles southeast of Kabul.

“It was to make us uncomfortable and confess to them,” he said. “This was the rule. They would ask me if I was a Taliban or an Al Qaeda. But I am not. I am a Tajik and the Taliban were Pushtuns. It was a misunderstanding.”

He also claimed to have been strung up to the ceiling with his hands tied and quickly dropped to the floor. “They pulled me up to the ceiling and then released the chain,” he said. “There was a piece of wood on the floor which my knees would hit. They did it twice, and it hurt.”

To support his account, Ahmad produced a certificate he received from the U.S. Army after finally being discharged in November from the Bagram detention center, stating he “posed no threat to the United States Armed Forces or its interests in Afghanistan.”

Lt. Col. Michele DeWerth said Thursday that she could not comment on Ahmad’s specific allegations. “As a matter of policy, we don’t discuss specific procedures. It’s important to note, we continuously review and update our procedures -- we are continuously ensuring we comply with the rule and spirit of the Geneva Conventions. The detainees receive three meals a day that meet cultural dietary requirements, worship opportunities, shelter, clothing and excellent medical care.”

In Washington, Lt. Gen. David Barno, commander of American forces in Afghanistan, told a think tank audience Friday that “we are looking to dramatically reduce the amount of time that we have individuals detained outside of the Bagram central facility.” He said new policy guidance will spell out his intent to treat “all of our detainees with dignity and respect, and making sure those rules are enforced across all our operations throughout Afghanistan.”

Barno said he was not aware of any photographs depicting abuse of Afghan detainees along the lines of the photographs of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Police Col. Syed Nabi Siddiqui said that after being detained last July, he was sexually abused, photographed and humiliated by American soldiers. Siddiqui’s charges were originally published in a report in the New York Times, and he made additional statements when contacted by the Los Angeles Times.

Although the claims of mistreatment could not be independently corroborated, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, which receives funding from foreign donors, including the U.S. Congress, supported both Ahmad’s and Siddiqui’s claims. The organization last week demanded access to all American military detention centers in Afghanistan after receiving 44 complaints in recent months of abuse by soldiers. The military has so far refused, said Rafiullah Bedar, head of the office.

“There is no clear investigation of how many Afghans are kept, where they are imprisoned,” he said. “The Americans are not explaining to the relatives what has happened to their loved ones. The other problem is that our own government does not have control over these problems. They have no authority.”

Ahmad, a father of four children, said that he was arrested last summer at his home on the outskirts of Gardez. His hands were bound and his eyes blindfolded, he said, and he was taken to the base in Gardez, one of several in the south and east from where the Army launches operations along the Pakistani border. During the interrogation sessions, he said, he was made to stand for up to an hour against the wall, with his knees bent at a 90-degree angle and arms stretched in front of him. He had to hold two full bottles of water in his hands.

“If we dropped the bottle because our arms were too tired we had to start again,” he said.

At one point, he said he was humiliated by being forced to hold the U.S. flag while standing between two American soldiers. “I don’t know why they did this. They said they would print lots of copies of the picture, distribute it throughout Gardez and tell people I was on the Americans’ side.”

He was later taken to the Bagram air base north of Kabul, where he said other prisoners appeared to have been subjected to electric shocks. “We were not allowed to talk to each other. There was one soldier for two prisoners. Very quietly and slowly I heard other prisoners, who were supposed to be Taliban commanders, say they were electrocuted. I didn’t see it for myself, but I saw the black marks on their forearms.”

Siddiqui said his ordeal began last July when he was arrested at his home.

He said he was then shunted for weeks between the southern bases of Gardez and Kandahar and Bagram. He believes someone told the military he was a terrorist after he complained of corruption in his office.

The father of nine children recalled having been flown to the Kandahar base blindfolded and shackled. “I was forced to lie down and from a small corner of my blindfold I could see about 50 to 60 other prisoners with black bags over their heads. They covered our ears with some kind of earmuffs. The helicopter took off,” he said.

“When we landed they pulled me for one kilometer by my neck. My feet were tied so I could not walk. The prisoners were crying for water but no one heard us.”

For the next 12 nights, he alleges, he was kept in a wooden cage measuring about 5 feet tall and 16 feet wide with 13 to 16 other prisoners. There was one pot used as a toilet. At night the soldiers abused them, he said.

“Every night they came and threw stones at us,” he recalled. “We would try to cover ourselves or huddle in the corners to shield ourselves from the stones but we couldn’t hide.”

He said the worst moment came during 10 days’ detention at Bagram. “I was stripped naked but didn’t know where I was at the time. The soldiers asked me, ‘Do you know where you are? You are in America. This is American law. Do you accept our laws?’ They told me to stand on a white line under the U.S. flag and they inserted something in my anus; I couldn’t see what it was. For one month I had nightmares.”

Times staff writer Mary Curtius in Washington contributed to this report.