Habibullah (Bagram detainee)

Mullah Habibullah
DiedDecember 4, 2002
Afghanistan
OccupationClergyman

Mullah Habibullah was an Afghan who died on December 4, 2002 while in US custody at the Bagram Collection Point, a US military detention center in Afghanistan.[1] His death was one of those classed as a homicide, though the initial military statement described his death as due to natural causes.[2]

Habibullah's brother was a Taliban leader.[3] Carlotta Gall, The New York Times reporter in Afghanistan, was the first to discover the story in 2003. Captain Carolyn Wood, commander of Alpha Company of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, and Captain Christopher Beiring, commander of the 377th Military Police Company, directed their troops at the Bagram Collection Point to confine their captives with their arms handcuffed above their heads in order to deprive them of sleep.[4] Lt. Gen. Daniel K. McNeill was later quoted in the press denying that Bagram prisoners had been chained to the ceiling or held in chains attached to the ceiling. Their troops routinely kneed their captives in the side of their thighs. They called these "compliance blows". During a Criminal Investigation Division inquiry their troops claimed they had been told—incorrectly—that this kind of blow was a legal, authorized use of force.

  1. ^ "Medical Investigations of Homicides of Prisoners of War in Iraq and Afghanistan". Medscape. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  2. ^ "Detainee Dies During US Interrogation in Afghanistan". World Socialist Web Site. December 11, 2002. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  3. ^ Gall, Carlotta (March 4, 2005). "U.S. examines death of Afghan in custody: Pathologist described it as a homicide". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  4. ^ White, Josh (March 12, 2005). "2 Died After '02 Beatings by U.S. Soldiers". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2007-09-14.