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Bagram prisoners refuse privileges to protest detention

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Detainees held at the US detention facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan have refused prison privileges to protest their detention, according to Thursday reports. Since early July, hundreds of Bagram detainees have refused shower and exercise time and have ceased participation in a family visits and teleconferences set up by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC, the only humanitarian group given access to the base, has discontinued the programs during the protest. A US military officials said that the detainees were protesting their lack of access to US courts and the indefinite length of their detention. Last month, a judge from the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by Afghan national and Bagram detainee Haji Wazir, because he was detained in a theater of war and his release would likely cause "friction with the host country." Also last month, several former Bagram detainees alleged that they were subjected to physical abuse, death threats, "stress positions," extreme temperatures, and forced nudity while at the US facility. In April, the DC Circuit allowed habeas petitions brought by three non-Afghan to proceed, but later certified and suspended the order, allowing an interlocutory appeal on whether the detainees may invoke the Constitution's Suspension Clause.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on July 16, 2009 (boomark / email).