Arbitrary Justice

Block D, Pul-i-Charkhi

The United States has spent over $20 million in constructing Block D and has earmarked an additional $18 million for three years to train and mentor Afghan National Army guards to run the detention center.[30] Although the Afghan Ministry of Justice (MOJ) generally has oversight function of prisons and detention centers, including Pul-i-Charkhi which has other prisons, Block D is operated by the Ministry of Defense (MOD) and not the Ministry of Justice.

An Afghan National Detention Facility task force is composed of representatives from the Afghan National Security Council,[31] NDS, Attorney General, MOD, MOJ, and the U.S. embassy to assess who is transferred for criminal prosecution. In interviews with Human Rights First, both U.S. and Afghan officials characterized the U.S. role in the ANDF task force as one of "mentoring" the Afghans.

On March 2, 2008, President Hamid Karzai issued a Presidential Decree (attached as Appendix B) creating an intra-agency committee to review complaints of former Bagram and Guantánamo detainees now in Block D. According to the decree, Members of the Supreme Court, MOD, NDS, and MOJ will "check the complaints, problems, documents and files" of the defendants and submit their report to the president.[32] The committee is mandated to review a detainee's file consisting of information provided by the U.S. and Afghan officials, and recommend release post-conviction, or affirm the court's verdict, or recommend continued detention. To date, the committee has reviewed 120 cases and recommended release of 53 people, but no one has been released yet. [33] A committee member told Human Rights First that, "we have to be fair, the committee will recommend that these people have legal representation."[34]

There are 350 cells in Block D and, at this writing, each cell is occupied by only one person.[35] Block D can hold up to 700 detainees if there are two persons in each cell.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) both have access to detainees in Block D. (ICRC also has access to the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, but UNAMA officials do not). Compared to other Afghan prisons and NDS detention facilities, where detainees allegedly have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment, to date there have been no such complaints about Block D.[36]

According to Afghan officials and a former Block D detainee, detainees are flown from Guantánamo to the U.S. military's Bagram Air Field and then transported by U.S. military helicopter to Afghan officials in Block D. Upon arrival in Block D, detainees are kept on the third floor for observation and not allowed to interact with other detainees, or meet visitors, or have time outside the cell.[37] If a detainee is cooperative and observes prison rules, then he is moved to the second floor and is allowed to pray in jamat (collectively) with other detainees, allowed visitors twice a week, and permitted exercise three days a week. [38] A detainee on the first floor has the most privileges and is allowed to watch television, can be outside his cell from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., can pray collectively, and receive visitors daily.[39] A detainee is moved between the floors, gaining and losing privileges, depending on his behavior and cooperation.

As of February 4, 2008, two former Bagram detainees were still on the third floor – one, as explained by an ANA official to Human Rights First because he was non-cooperative, and the other because of "mental issues."[40]

Human Rights First met with family members of Guantánamo transferees. Each family member expressed a sense of relief that their relative was back in Afghanistan and they were finally able to meet with them. Redacted ICRC letters were the only form of communication between the family and a detainee during as many as five or six years in U.S. custody.[41] (In January 2008, the ICRC, in coordination with the United States, setup a call center at its Kabul office for families to communicate with Bagram detainees).[42]

Some family members told Human Rights First that they were under the impression that detainees were found "innocent" in Guantánamo, thus leading to their return to Afghanistan. They were therefore understandably confused as to why their family member had not returned home and remained detained in Afghanistan with the possibility of being prosecuted.[43]

Human Rights First spoke to the brother of a Guantánamo detainee, who, according to the brother, had traveled to Pakistan to buy supplies for the family auto spare-parts shop, but was arrested by Pakistani authorities and then transferred to U.S. custody. His brother has been detained for more than five years in Guantánamo and in 2007 was transferred to Block D. He lamented the lost time with his brother and said:

The reason why he was transferred to Afghanstan is because they [the U.S.] did not find any evidence against him. My brother does not know the charges against him. Perhaps the Pakistanis have accused him. I don't know why my brother is still in jail. If my brother has committed a crime he should be punished, but he spent five and a half years in jail for what? . . . Tell us what he has done. What are the charges? Let us know the sentence so we know how much longer to wait. If convicted – fine we need to know. My brother is married, he has two sons who are eight and nine and a daughter who is six years old. The children visited their father [in Block D], but they did not feel close to him because they have not seen him in over five years. My brother was very sad. But I told him it will take time.[44]

Visiting rooms for Block D detainees, as described by family members of detainees, appear to be similar to a visiting room in a U.S. prison. The visiting rooms are divided in half by a glass wall. The glass wall has holes through which the detainee and visitor can converse. [45] Unarmed ANA guards are on each side of the glass wall. Detainees are not handcuffed during visits but wear ankle chains. Visits last 20 to 30 minutes. Family members described seeing cameras in the visiting room.[46]

A brother of a Guantánamo detainee described seeing his brother for the first time in six years:

Two weeks after he was brought to Block D, I saw him . . . . The room was divided by glass panel. It had small holes. I shook hands with my brother with two fingers through the holes. When I entered the room and saw him it was unbelievable. It was sad to see my brother. He was limping. He had chains on his ankles. He is younger than me but looked older. I could not believe it was him.[47]