While US President Barack Obama said he’ll close the Guantanamo prisoner camp in Cuba, he’s being criticised for following his predecessor’s policy on the Bagram prison in Afghanistan. The new US government disappointed human rights activists when it chose to adhere to the Bush administration’s position that detainees imprisoned at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan have no right to challenge their confinement in US courts. Critics have now begun referring to Bagram as “Obama’s Guantanamo.” An estimated 650 inmates are being held at the prison north of Kabul, but the public rarely receives any details about how they’re being treated. Several thousand prisoners have passed through the compound in recent years, according to Ferdinand Muggenthaler of Amnesty International. The US government has defended its policy on Bagram, saying the prison is located in a war zone, and American law therefore doesn’t apply.
BAGRAM THE NEXT GUANTANAMO
While US President Barack Obama said he’ll close the Guantanamo prisoner camp in Cuba, he’s being criticised for following his predecessor’s policy on the Bagram prison in Afghanistan. The new US government disappointed human rights activists when it chose to adhere to the Bush administration’s position that detainees imprisoned at the Bagram air base in…
