ICRC position on detainees

["Ken Hanly" <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On what grounds would they shave off beards and moustaches. Not only does
this offend against the detainees religious beliefs it strikes me as a
mirror image of the repressive intolerance of which the Taliban are accused.
>From the Independent (UK)

Cheers, Ken Hanly

American forces 'may be breaking PoW convention'
By Kim Sengupta in Kabul
14 January 2002
The treatment of Taliban and al-Qa'ida prisoners held in Afghanistan by US
authorities and the methods used in transporting them to Cuba may be in
breach of the United Nations' Geneva Convention.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said yesterday that
those being held by American forces must be counted as prisoners of war
under the Geneva Convention, and were, therefore, entitled to the full
protection offered by it.

However, attempts by the ICRC to get Washington to spell out the exact
status of its Afghan prisoners has resulted in a variety of often
contradictory responses from different departments in the adminis-tration,
according to diplomatic sources.

Some of the terms used by America to describe the prisoners, such as
"battlefield detainees", have no legal meaning, the ICRC says.

The conditions under which the prisoners, including British Muslims, are
being held in the Kandahar air base before they are shipped to Cuba, as well
as the forcible shaving of beards and moustaches for the journey, could be
in breach of articles of the convention.

The ICRC maintains that Afghan and foreign fighters of the Taliban and
al-Qa'ida qualify for prisoner-of-war status and should be treated as such
until a properly constituted court, in the United States or elsewhere,
decides otherwise.

Catherine Deman, the organisation's legal adviser for operations, has
arrived in Afghanistan to prepare a report on the situation.

Afghan prisoners have been handed over to the United States by Northern
Alliance warlords as well as the new interim government of Hamid Karzai.
They are being held by the American military at bases in Kandahar, Bagram
and Mazar-i-Sharif. The Independent has learnt, though, that the ICRC has
not been able to get access to the prisoners in Bagram and Mazar-i-Sharif,
and has discovered that about 360 being held in Kandahar are being kept in
unsheltered stockades in the bitterly cold winter, without any privacy.
These conditions would breach the Geneva Convention.

The American authorities have stated that the accommodation at Kandahar is
temporary and will be improved.

The forcible shaving of the Muslim prisoners, before their flight to the
Cuban naval base at Guantanamo Bay, could also be a breach of the
convention, which stipulates that religious tenets of prisoners of war
should be respected.

The United States is within its rights, under the convention, to remove
prisoners from Afghanistan to American territory even though there is no
extradition treaty between the two countries, and also to sedate them on the
journey to Cuba for reasons of safety.

The British Taliban fighter taken to Cuba on the first flight was one of
three Britons captured by the forces of the Uzbek warlord General Abdul
Rashid Dostum at Kunduz. They were handed over to the Americans and taken to
Kandahar without the British authorities being informed. Embassy staff in
Kabul only discovered their details after the ICRC contacted them.

The one who was flown with 19 others to Cuba is believed to have been in the
senior ranks of al-Qa'ida. The other two are also expected to be taken to
Guantanamo Bay.

The majority of those being taken to Cuba are foreign fighters for al-Qa'ida
or the Taliban, rather than Afghans. The camp at Guantanamo is designed to
hold 2,000 people and all of those at the Kandahar air base are expected to
end up there.

America expects Afghan warlords and the government to hand over any senior
al-Qa'ida or Taliban figures they apprehend. US officials were furious when
Gul Agha Shirzai, the American-sponsored governor of Kandahar, released
seven senior former Taliban officials, including three ministers, after they
had surrendered.

According to Afghan government sources in Kabul, there is increasing
disinclination to deliver prisoners to the Americans because they are likely
to be flown out of the country without Washington even seeking the
permission from the Afghans.

The Americans, however, are determined to avoid keeping large numbers of
suspects under custody in Afghanistan because of the uprising of prisoners
at a castle in Mazar-i-Sharif after the fall of Kunduz. The risks were also
highlighted by an attack on the Kandahar air base on the night the first lot
of prisoners was flown to Cuba.

American military officials also say that Pentagon policy is to disengage
from Afghanistan as soon as the military operation against terrorism is
deemed to be over. Thus it makes practical sense to remove prisoners who may
face charges and trials in a process lasting months or even years.