ABUSE CRISIS: US Army Reports Find Soldiers Killed Afghan Detainees, page 1

posted on Mar, 12 2005 @ 05:00 PM

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US Military Investigative reports show that two afghani detainees died as a result of beatings by US soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002. On Saturday The New York Times quoted the reports, obtained by Human Rights Watch, stating that the prisoners were chained in a standing position and kicked and beaten by soldiers resulting in their deaths. The reports are yet to be made public.

www.abc.net.au
Among those implicated in the torture were members of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, which went on to establish an interrogation unit at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the reports said. They said 28 soldiers and reservists have been recommended for prosecution in connection with abuse of prisoners at a US detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, but only two have been charged so far.

The New York Times, quoting the US Army report, said Mullah Habibullah died in an isolation cell on December 4, 2002, from a pulmonary embolism "apparently caused by blood clots formed in his legs from the beatings".

Another detainee identified as Dilawar died six days later in another isolation cell from "blunt force trauma to the lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease," the US Army report was quoted as saying.

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This is the first official report of detainee deaths being directly attributed to abuse by US soldiers in the abuse crisis cases. The reports suggest that these were not isolated incidents. It is not clear at this stage how Human Rights Watch obtained the reports. In a December 2004 open letter to Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld, Human Rights Watch accused the Defense Dept of operating outside law in Afghanistan and failing to investigate abuses, including killings.

Human Rights Watch Website

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wecomeinpeace

posted on Mar, 12 2005 @ 05:04 PM

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Due to the government-imposed Internet restrictions in China, I can't access the Human Rights Website to investigate further. Perhaps another member can assist.

marg6043

posted on Mar, 12 2005 @ 06:34 PM

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Well I am glad that the reports are from the US army Itself, as to see how reliable the sources are.

I have not doubt in my mind that more personnel was involved in these acts, higher up in the chain of command, but they are protected.