CONTACT: Tina Foster – + 93 780 950 336 (Afghanistan), + 1 917 442 9580 (USA);  Ramzi Kassem -- + 1 718 340 4558 (USA)

September 21, 2012--Kabul, Afghanistan. A delegation of U.S.-based attorneys representing detainees at Bagram prison met this week with Afghan government officials regarding the transfer of the prison facilities at the Bagram Airbase to the custody and control of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.  Attorney Tina Foster, Executive Director of the International Justice Network (IJN), and Professor Ramzi Kassem, of the City University of New York School of Law, described the results of the meetings as “extremely positive” and praised the Afghan government for its efforts to end the U.S. government’s unlawful detention without trial of more than 3,000 prisoners at Bagram.

IJN, along with a coalition of NGOs and legal scholars, had written to President Karzai in May to encourage the Afghan government to reject an administrative detention regime proposed by the United States in which individuals would be indefinitely detained on Afghan soil.  Afghan officials confirmed earlier this week that the U.S. proposal had been rejected.  “We applaud President Karzai’s decision to firmly assert Afghan sovereignty in this matter,” said Ms. Foster, “the administrative detention regime that the U.S. government now uses at Bagram is not only illegal under international law, but contravenes the Afghan Constitution in a number of respects.  There is no reason for Afghanistan to adopt such a flawed system.”

During the meetings, the detainees’ American attorneys briefed Afghan government officials regarding the situation of more than 50 non-Afghan citizens who remain in exclusive U.S. custody at Bagram, including many whom the United States brought to Afghanistan from other countries.  In a statement, Afghan officials clarified that the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan “favors these individuals having access to a fair judicial process and adjudication of their case by a competent court,” contrary to U.S. government claims in legal proceedings in the United States.  “We can only commend President Karzai and the Afghan government for their courageous adherence to the rule of law for all in Afghanistan in this instance,” stated Professor Kassem.  “We hope this will contribute to ending the United States’ continued use of Afghan territory for the purpose of operating a prison outside the law,” said Kassem.

The delegation also discussed the fate of approximately 630 Afghan detainees who have not yet been transferred to the custody of the Afghan government in violation of the bilateral March 2012 Memorandum of Understanding between Afghanistan and the United States.  Foster pledged that IJN was committed to providing legal assistance to families of detainees who wished to challenge their continued illegal detention in exclusive U.S. custody.  “We have offered our cooperation and support to the Afghan government, to the prisoners and their families, and we will continue to fight for the rights of those detainees who are denied access to their own legal system by a foreign power.”