UN investigation into detention in Afghanistan

Cherif Bassiouni, the UN-appointed Independent Expert on Human Rights in Afghanistan, made comments about the "unusual detention practices" of Coalition forces in Afghanistan, a day before the end of his one-week mission in the country. His findings will be reported in the UN Human Rights Commission report for the March session. (Note that the US has severely critized the UNHRC for its acceptance of Sudan as a temporary member.)

"There is not (a) legal basis for coalition forces to hold people as prisoners," Bassiouni said.

"If they're held as prisoners of war, then they have to observe the Geneva convention. If they're held as common prisoners, then they have to conform with afghani law and constitution. They're (foreign forces are) not doing it," he said.

On a previous visit to Afghanistan in August 2004, the expert expressed concerns about the legality of detention centres run by the US military and called for them to be opened to independent inspectors. [...]

Bassiouni said it was a "matter of great conern" that an independent expert had been denied access to Bagram camp, 50 kilometres north of Kabul.