Black jail

For the Chinese extralegal detention centers, see Black jails.

The black jail was a U.S. military detention camp established in 2002 inside Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. Since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, it is no longer in operation. Distinct from the main prison of the Bagram Internment Facility, the black jail was run by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and U.S. Special Operations Forces. There were numerous allegations of abuse associated with the prison, including beatings, sleep deprivation and forcing inmates into stress positions. U.S. authorities have refused to acknowledge the prison's existence.[1] The facility consisted of individual windowless concrete cells, each illuminated by a single light bulb glowing 24 hours a day. Its existence was first reported by journalist Anand Gopal and confirmed by many subsequent investigations.[2][3][4]

Although U.S. President Barack Obama signed an order to eliminate black sites run by the Central Intelligence Agency in January 2009,[5] that order did not apply to the black jail.[2] However, in August, the Obama administration restricted the time that detainees could be held at the secret jail, and another like it at Balad Air Base in Iraq, to two weeks.[2] During the facility's existence, human rights organisations were concerned that the jail remained inaccessible to both the Red Cross and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.[2][6][7] The ICRC claimed that it had been receiving names of inmates since 2009.[8]

BBC News reported on May 11, 2010, that the Red Cross had confirmed the site's existence to them and that they had heard the accounts of former inmates.[9][10][11]

  1. ^ Gopal, Anand (January 28, 2010). "America's Secret Afghan Prisons". The Nation. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Rubin, Allisa J.; Schmitt, Eric (November 28, 2009). "Afghans Detail a Secret Prison Still Operating on a U.S. Base". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 27, 2012.
  3. ^ Ambinder, Marc (April 14, 2010). "Inside the Secret Interrogation Facility at Bagram". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 19, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  4. ^ Soldz, Stephen (May 21, 2010). "The "Black Jail": Obama's Afghan Torture Center and the American Psychological Association". Scoop. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  5. ^ "Secret prisons: Obama's order to close 'black sites'". The Guardian. January 23, 2009. Archived from the original on February 14, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2009.
  6. ^ "Afghan Teenagers Claim Abuse at U.S. Military Prison". Common Dreams. Agence France-Presse. November 28, 2009. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017.
  7. ^ Partlow, Joshua; Tate, Julie (November 28, 2009). "Afghan teens allege abuse at U.S. 'black' prison". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 16, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2009 – via NBC Connecticut.
  8. ^ "Red Cross Confirms Secret Afghan Jail". ABC News. May 11, 2010. Archived from the original on May 15, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  9. ^ Andersson, Hilary (May 11, 2010). "Red Cross confirms 'second jail' at Bagram, Afghanistan". BBC News. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  10. ^ Andersson, Hilary (May 11, 2010). "Prisoner on being held in the 'black jail' at Bagram". BBC News. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  11. ^ Andersson, Hilary (April 15, 2010). "Afghans 'abused at secret prison' at Bagram airbase". BBC News. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2012.