An investigative commission in Afghanistan issued a statement Jan. 7 alleging the abuse of detainees held by the US military at prisons in the country. The commission called for the transfer of all prisoners held by the US military to Afghan custody. The detainees held by US forces are a combination of Afghan nationals and foreign accused al-Qaeda operatives. The commission also alleged that some prisoners are being held without evidence and called for their release. The commission was created by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in June 2010.

The status of the detainees held by the US has also been an issue at controversy in the American courts. In February 2011 District Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted a motion to amend petitions for writs of habeas corpus for four detainees held at Bagram Air Base. In May 2010 a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that detainees held at Bagram Air Base cannot bring habeas corpus challenges in US courts. In January 2010 the US Department of Defense released a list of names of 645 prisoners then detained at Bagram in response to a Freedom Of Information Act lawsuit filed by the ACLU in September 2009.

From Jurist, Jan. 7. Used with permission.

See our last posts on Afghanistan and the detention state.