Publication Date:
Source:
Professor Barbara Olshansky is quoted in a BBC South Asia article about prisoners' rights in Afghanistan:
After the US government announced that inmates in the Bagram detention centre do not have the right to challenge their detention in US courts, in a responsive attempt, the [Afghan] government said the prisoners would be tried in line with the Afghan constitution.
...
The move by the USA not to examine the dossiers of inmates in the Bagram detention centre has been followed by criticisms of human rights activists.
The USA says the Bagram jail was created in a country where the fight is under way against terrorist groups and the detention of prisoners in this jail is part of the military operation in Afghanistan.
US officials consider Bagram detainees unlawful combatants who can be detained for as long as they are deemed a threat to national security in Afghanistan. But human rights bodies say that the rights of Afghan inmates are not observed in American jails.
Barbara Olshansky, the lead counsel in a legal challenge on behalf of four Bagram detainees, says the [US] justice department's decision not to reform the rules was both surprising and enormously disappointing.