Afghani prisoners are brutally tortured by British troops and the Afghan secret police on a daily basis, a new court case has revealed.
British troops face damning allegations that they routinely inflict torture on Afghani civilians suspected of being insurgents. The High Court is examining recent evidence gathered from prisoners captured by British forces and then handed to the secret police, called the National Directorate of Security (NDS).
“Prisoner A” was beaten every other day for two and a half months while hanging from the ceiling. Other former prisoners describe similar brutal treatment including: electrocution while blindfold, hanging from the ceiling, beatings with weapons and sticks, and attempts to cut their wrists.
“Prisoner G” recounts that he “confessed” after six consecutive nights of beating with steel rods to the back of his legs.
The government actually accepted in court that British forces had access into the NDS facility for British interrogators, clearly exposing complicity in this torture.
At the same time, another High Court case heard evidence that British troops were aware of serious mistreatment as early as March 2007, revealed in a memo from the NDS.
Despite this, the British Army continued transferring suspected insurgents to the NDS until September 2009, with more than 300 handed over since July 2006.
But it’s not just in Afghanistan where this has been going on. The record of British troops in Iraq is equally appalling.
A recent inquiry heard evidence that Baha Mousa and other Iraqi civilians were subjected to torture and mistreatment including punching, “hooding” and being placed in stress positions while in the custody of soldiers from 1 Battalion Queen’s Lancashire Regiment.
Mousa died after British soldiers inflicted 93 separate injuries on him. A military intelligence officer who gave evidence also recalled detainees with boot marks on their backs, bruised heads and cut lips.
These horrific revelations expose the blatant hypocrisy of the UK government’s claim that the “war on terror” and the continued occupation of Afghanistan are about spreading human rights and democracy. In reality, they have no regard for the lives or rights of Afghani citizens, on whom they are willing to inflict brutal torture and an ongoing murderous war to further their aim of domination in the region.