Detentions in Afghanistan

Following Operation Enduring Freedom, detainees began to be rounded up in prisons in Afghanistan. Due to reasoning given by the Bush Administration, prisonerof- war protection was not given to any of the combatants caught by the US forces. The lack of protection from the Geneva Conventions resulted in a number of cases of human rights abuses including the Dasht-i-Leili massacre where Taliban prisoners were shot and suffocated to death in metal truck containers while they were being transferred from Kunduz to Sheberghan prison.

Before being sent to Guantanamo Bay, the detainees were taken to either Bagram or Kandahar Airbases where they were processed. Both of these make-shift detention facilities were used to filter those detainees who would be subsequently sent to Cuba. What is surprising; are the number of detainees sent there who had nothing to do with the conflict and were rather picked up from areas of the world thousands of miles away.

The detention in Bagram has often been cited as being amongst the worst torture faced by those who were held there. The deaths of Habibullah and Dilawar at the hands of US Army soldiers resulted in the charging of 27 officers. Although these were just two examples of actual murders that took place, there are reports of a pattern of widespread abuse from all who gave testimonies of their time there.

Origins of the facility at Guantanamo Bay

The origins of the facility at Guantanamo Bay can be traced back to the Spanish-American War 1898. On February 23rd 1903, the first President of Cuba Tomas Estrada Palma, an American citizen, agreed a perpetual lease with the US for the area around Guantanamo Bay following victory against the Spanish. The Cuban- American Treaty allowed for Cuba to have sovereign control of Cuba, however the US was granted full jurisdiction and control of the naval base.

The area become home to the US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay which covers an area of approximately 45 square miles. It is commonly abbreviated at GTMO or 'Gitmo'. The terms of the lease under the agreement can only be broken if done so by the consent of both parties. Until that time the US pays sum of $4,085 a year to the Cuban government. Fidel Castro, the current President of Cuba, has rejected all but the first cheque out of protest to US presence.


Guantanamo Bay

In January 2002 the international media began to report the first instances of the transfer of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters to Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay. Initially there were 110 prisoners who had been rendered to the facility in Cuba. The detainees that were being held in Camp X-Ray were classified as 'illegal combatants' rather than 'prisoners-of-war'. Subsequently the US administration argued that they were not obliged to implement the Geneva conventions or US constitutional obligations due to Guantanamo Bay not being located on mainland US soil.

On 29th April 2002, all the prisoners were transferred from Camp X-Ray to Camp Delta. It was during the period of 27th February - mid-April 2002 that Camp Delta was being constructed specifically to hold the detainees who were still being filtered through from Afghanistan and other parts of the world. Camp Delta itself comprises the detention camps I, II, III, IV, V, VI and Camp Echo. These form the permanent 612 cell detention facility that houses most of the detainees. Camp V is notoriously known as being the worst in its treatment of detainees.

Camp Echo, also part of Camp Delta, is a detention centre where pre-military commission prisoners are held. Those who are about to face the commissions may speak to their lawyers in this facility.

Although there have been public lists produced by the Americans relating to those held in the detention facility, it is commonly thought that there exist many 'ghost detainees' who being held without any public acknowledgment. The International Committee of the Red Cross are quite simply not given access to certain areas of the facility thus making it easy to internally transfer those they want to remain hidden.

Click here to read the latest statistics on Guantanamo Bay

Click here for a an overview of the various prison camps in Guantanamo Bay

Download a Cageprisoners leaflet on the Military Commissions process from the link below.