PAKISTANI DETAINEE SPEAKS OF ORDEAL IN BAGRAM PRISON

Kabul, 14 Jumadil Akhir 1453/15 April 2014 (MINA) – A former Pakistani detainee at the notorious Bagram prison in Afghanistan says he was tortured while the facility was under US control.

Pakistani truck driver Umran Khan, who spent nine years in Bagram prison without committing any crime, says he suffered beatings, sleep deprivation and a sustained campaign of mental disintegration.

“They wouldn’t let us sleep. If they wanted to punish you, for example if you spoke to another prisoner, they would put you in a star position for 30 minutes to an hour,” said the 32-year-old man, one of six Pakistanis released from Bagram last November.

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“They had metal bars fitted into the doors of our cells. When they saw people were sleeping they would run a stick along it to make a loud noise,” Khan said, Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Khan added that he developed breathing problems from the tear gas the guards used to fire to control the inmates.

Amnesty International said the case “demonstrates the persisting secrecy surrounding US detention policies.”

“(It is) a significant problem given cases like this where individuals with no apparent involvement in hostilities happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Mustafa Qadri, a Pakistan researcher for Amnesty International.

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Khan was accused of transporting bombs in 2005 while riding in a taxi.

However, his file says he cannot be linked forensically to the explosives found in the car and has no known connections to militant groups.

“There is no fingerprint evidence linking him to these IED components” nor “evidence of exposure to explosive materials,” the file read.

Afghan authorities took over the jail in 2013 but the US remains in charge of foreign detainees at the facility.

In July 2013, the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), an independent non-profit research organization, said it has found that the US is running a secret jail at Bagram Airbase, in which Afghan inmates are being tortured.