U.S. forces hand over Bagram prison to Afghans
- 11 years ago
It's been a year in the making.
But on Monday, the biggest U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan was formally transferred to Afghan control.
Parwan Detention Center, or Bagram prison, houses over 3,000 inmates, including insurgents considered dangerous to international forces here.
The prison vexed relations between the two countries.
Detainees are often held for years without trial, and human rights activists say they will be vulnerable to more rights abuses after the handover.
Lal Mohammad was jailed over 17 months before he was found innocent and released.
(SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) LAL MOHAMMAD, WHO WAS HELD AT BAGRAM DETENTION CENTRE FOR 17 MONTHS, SAYING:
"I was beaten by Afghan and foreign soldiers in the prison. There was torture. We were locked in a toilet for days and nights. I was taking ablution inside that toilet where I was sleeping. Is a toilet a place for keeping humans and Muslims that they had to keep us there?"
The handover
But on Monday, the biggest U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan was formally transferred to Afghan control.
Parwan Detention Center, or Bagram prison, houses over 3,000 inmates, including insurgents considered dangerous to international forces here.
The prison vexed relations between the two countries.
Detainees are often held for years without trial, and human rights activists say they will be vulnerable to more rights abuses after the handover.
Lal Mohammad was jailed over 17 months before he was found innocent and released.
(SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) LAL MOHAMMAD, WHO WAS HELD AT BAGRAM DETENTION CENTRE FOR 17 MONTHS, SAYING:
"I was beaten by Afghan and foreign soldiers in the prison. There was torture. We were locked in a toilet for days and nights. I was taking ablution inside that toilet where I was sleeping. Is a toilet a place for keeping humans and Muslims that they had to keep us there?"
The handover