Afghan prisoner dies in NATO cell

This video is called Afghans angry over civilian deaths.

From Reuters:

Afghan detainee ‘found dead’

Last Updated: October 18, 2010 2:26am

KABUL – A detainee being held by troops from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was found dead in his holding cell, and an investigation is underway, the force said in a statement on Monday.

The man was captured during a military operation by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Saturday and was “found dead” the following day in his cell in Kandahar province, ISAF said in a statement.

It did not give any further details.

Prisoner abuse and deaths of detainees while in the custody of foreign troops is a sensitive subject for many Afghans after U.S. troops beat to death two prisoners in 2002 at the old Bagram prison at the U.S. Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.

That jail, which was set up to hold prisoners from the campaign against the Taliban after the Sept. 11 attacks, was replaced earlier this year by a $60 million prison – also on Bagram Air Base – which Washington says meets international standards.

On Saturday, a report by U.S.-based think-tank Open Society Foundations said former detainees held at a secret U.S. prison at Bagram, separate to the main jail, had reported abuse at the hands of the U.S. military.

In the report, former detainees said jailers mistreated them by depriving them of natural light, failing to provide proper food and withholding Red Cross visits.

…

Apart from Bagram prison, there are smaller jails on foreign military bases around Afghanistan where detainees are held before taken to Bagram or handed over to Afghan authorities.

Earlier this year, there were around 1,000 prisoners held in foreign military detention centres in Afghanistan, more than 800 of them in the main jail at Bagram.

The US military and Afghan officials launched separate investigations on Tuesday into the death of a detainee who was found dead in his holding cell of an apparent gunshot wound over the weekend: here.

Afghan election rife with fraud, officials say: here.

Afghanistan: Malalai Joya — `for our people, Obama is a warmonger, like another Bush’: here.

Veteran deaths surge after service in Iraq & Afghanistan: here.

CIA paid Liverpool buyout tycoon millions…to use his jet for ‘torture’ flights: here.

CNN: Pakistani intelligence protects Osama Bin Laden: here.

8 thoughts on “Afghan prisoner dies in NATO cell”

Disfiguring tropical disease surges in Afghanistan

Posted: Oct 15, 2010 1:00 PM Updated: Oct 18, 2010 8:04 PM

By ROBERT KENNEDY
Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – An outbreak of a tropical disease caused by sand fly bites that leaves disfiguring skin sores has hit Afghanistan, with tens of thousands of people infected, health officials said Friday.

Cutaneous leishmanisis is a parasitic disease transmitted by the female phlebotomine sand fly – an insect only 2-3 millimeters long that requires the blood of humans or animals so its eggs can develop. Treatable with medication and not life-threatening, cutaneous leishmanisis can leave severe scars on the bodies of victims.

The disease threatens 13 million people in Afghanistan, the World Health Organization said, and many impoverished Afghan victims can’t afford the medication to treat it.

In Kabul – described by the WHO as “the world capital of cutaneous leishmaniasis” – the number of cases jumped from an estimated 17,000 a year in the early 2000s to 65,000 in 2009, WHO said.

Most victims are women and children. WHO said women and children are more vulnerable because they mostly live indoors at night, where the sand flies prefer to bite, and are therefore more susceptible than men who are generally outside the home.

Peter Graaff, WHO representative to Afghanistan, told The Associated Press on Friday that the stigma and shame attached to the disfiguring disease results in underreporting, and the number of infected people is likely much higher.

“This number is likely to be the tip of the iceberg as cases are grossly underreported,” said Graaff.

An outbreak has occurred in a small village in western Herat province’s Kohsan district with 63 people infected since August, Graaff said.

The cause of the outbreak was unknown and a WHO team has been dispatched to investigate, he said.

The sand flies proliferate from June to September. They thrive in unsanitary conditions such as piles of garbage and debris, though bed nets offer protection from their bites. As the disfiguring sores grow larger, many suffer social stigmatization.

“The high cost of treatment makes it difficult to integrate anti-Leishmaniasis drugs,” said Dr. Suraya Dalil, acting minister of public health. “I urge donors to take this cause seriously, as it causes unnecessary suffering amongst a large number of Afghans.”

According to the WHO as many as 12 million people are infected worldwide with the disease, with about 1 million to 2 million new cases annually.

___

Online:

http://www.who.int/leishmaniasis/en/

LikeLike