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KABUL (AFP) — Five suspects in the US-led “war on terror” were able to see their relatives Tuesday in the first face-to-face visits at a US military detention centre in Afghanistan, the Red Cross said.

One of the relatives, the only one who would speak to media after the emotional reunions, said he was overjoyed to see his brother, who had been held at the largest US base, Bagram, for nearly three years.

“Of course when you see your brother after three years, especially when he is put in jail for no reason and you know he is innocent, it makes you cry,” said the man, who gave his name as Haji Qasim.

“I saw him face-to-face. I could not shake his hands since there was a glass partition between us. I could not hear him very well from the other side of the glass. But it was great.”

Qasim alleged his brother Akhtar Mohammad had been arrested on “false information” provided to international troops.

His family only found out where he was when they received a letter from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Mohammad appeared in “good shape,” Qasim said. “He said he was not beaten or tortured. We did not have enough time to talk about the details of what had happened to him over the past three years.”

Qasim, another brother and three of the detainee’s nephews were taken by the ICRC from Kabul to Bagram, nearly 60 kilometres (40 miles) away, along with about 15 other relatives.

About 600 people are being held at the Bagram prison. The US military, which launched its “war on terror” in Afghanistan weeks after the September 11 attacks on the United States, says they are suspected combatants.

The Red Cross has since 2002 been passing messages between the detainees and their loved ones.

In January 2008 it began video links between the prisoners and their relatives in Kabul and nearly 1,500 calls were made over the past eight months.

“But it is still not the real thing,” said Greg Muller, an ICRC delegate in Kabul. “It is essential to be touch with our loved ones… it is a very natural and human need.”

The face-to-face visits have already been in place in Iraq. However, “It is a first for Bagram and for the US military operation in Afghanistan,” Muller said.

He was not able to release details of the detainees for their privacy.

The visits were expected to be repeated regularly, the ICRC said.

ICRC head Jakob Kellenberger visited Bagram in April when he said that conditions had improved at the main US-run jail in Afghanistan but hundreds of detainees remained concerned about their future.

“When I talked to those detainees… (they are) always concerned that they don’t know why they are there,” Kellenberger told reporters afterwards.

“The second point of terrible concern for them is they don’t know what the future brings, how long would they be there, under which conditions they will be released,” he said.

The visits came as an Afghan reporter held for nearly a year at US military bases, including Bagram, without being charged alleged he had been tortured.

Jawed Ahmad, a 22-year-old reporter who worked for Canadian TV (CTV) and was freed Sunday, told AFP he was beaten by US interrogators as well as fellow inmates who broke two of his ribs.

A US military spokesman at Bagram denied the claim.

October 11th, 2008 | Category: Detainee |  Print This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL