U.S. to Expand Detainee Review in Afghan Prison

U.S. to Expand Detainee Review in Afghan Prison

www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration soon plans to issue new guidelines aimed at giving the hundreds of prisoners at an American detention center in Afghanistan significantly more ability to challenge their custody, Pentagon officials and detainee advocates say.

The new Pentagon guidelines would assign a United States military official to each of the roughly 600 detainees at the American-run prison at the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. These officials would not be lawyers but could for the first time gather witnesses and evidence, including classified material, on behalf of the detainee

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While I think the Obama administration could do more, faster, about the abuses at Bagram prison as well as at Guantanamo, this looks like a step in the right direction.

The prisoners probably don't need to be put up at the Hilton, but it seems to me they should at least know what the charges are against them.

It's about time the government of this country comes to terms with our terrible legacy of torture and abuse in American-run prisons.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)