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Newly Released Afghan Prisoners Happy With US Treatment in Jail

Posted on: Thursday, 15 December 2005, 12:00 CST

Text of report by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Kabul, 15 December: A number of prisoners who have been released as a result of efforts of the Afghan peace commission said that they were happy with the treatment they received by the US forces but had complaints against the Afghan forces.

The 47 prisoners have been released from the US-run prison at Bagram airbase and the majority of them are from parts of Afghanistan populated by Pashtuns. They were captured and arrested by the US and Afghan forces.

Besmellah, 58, one of the released prisoners from Ghazni Province told Pajhwok news agency: "I was reported to the government as a Taleban and government soldiers beat me heavily. When they understood that they could not get any confession from me, they handed me over to the Americans and I spent nine months at Bagram prison."

Besmellah said: "To protect the reputation of our government, perhaps it is better not to talk about such matters anymore."

Obaidollah, from Khakrez District of Kandahar Province, said that his house was located near the mountains and the Taleban forced him to share food with them in their houses. Someone informed the US forces about this and a US helicopter landed on the ground of his house and he was arrested.

He added: "I spent three months at the Bagram prison and they [the US forces] treated us very well. If we got into an argument, they would not allow us to take a bath and so on. Otherwise, we were left in peace."

Salar, 20, from Paktia Province, who used to work at the US forces base said about the reason for his arrest: "Somehow the US forces in Paktia Province had been harmed. A nasty relative of mine reported me to the US forces. They arrested me and I spent five months imprisoned in Paktia and another nine months at Bagram."

He added that initially, for the first five months, they were not allowed to talk to each other but this changed later.

According to this man's information, there were more than 500 prisoners at Bagram prison, including Arabs and Pakistanis.

According to Salar, on their release, the US forces provided them with a copy of the Koran, clothes, a jumper and a pair of shoes. The Afghan government gave them 2,000 afghanis [47 US dollars].

Sebghatollah Mojaddedi, the chairman of the Afghan peace commission, said at a ceremony held on the occasion "You should now make efforts in the reconstruction and rebuilding of your country. Afghanistan needs you."

The Afghan peace commission began work about a year ago. Since then, it has ensured the release of more than 3,000 people form the US-run prisons in Bagram, Kandahar and Guantanamo.

Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

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