Call for humane treatment of prisoners

Human Right Watch (HRW) on Monday called on the United States and the Northern Alliance to guarantee the humane treatment of surrendered or captured Taliban soldiers in the northern Afghan city of Konduz this weekend. HRW said fair screening procedures were needed to determine who should face prosecution later for serious violations of international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. The announcement follows reports of a revolt by Taliban prisoners in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif in which hundreds are reported to have been killed. "We now have seen what can happen when you take such a large group of people prisoner," an HRW researcher in Islamabad, Sam Zia-Zarifi, told IRIN. "We are concerned about both the prisoners and their keepers," he said. He called for greater cooperation between the international community and the Northern Alliance. In a press statement, HRW said that the Taliban fighters in Konduz included two commanders - Mullah Dadaullah and Mullah Fazil - who were implicated in some of the worst human rights abuses in recent Afghan history. "The need to set up a justice mechanism to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity is no longer a theoretical issue, it's an urgent priority," HRW's Asia director, Sidney Jones, said. She noted that the most immediate need was to ensure that prisoners were treated humanely, but that it was also critical to establish procedures for separating people suspected of grave crimes from those who had simply volunteered or been recruited to fight for the Taliban. The fighters in Konduz reportedly included many young men who had volunteered after 11 September. Regarding feasibility, Zia-Zarifi said: "That's problematic as there are no domestic courts in Afghanistan who can prosecute these prisoners, especially the foreign fighters." Such a situation in itself would result in prolonged detention without trial, which would violate fundamental guarantees of due process. He added that there was no international tribunal, but that was one area where the UN and the international community could conceivably play a more active role. One possibility would be to try them in a third country, he noted. The call from HRW came in the wake of reports of the surrender or defection of thousands of Taliban troops in Konduz, as the Northern Alliance entered the town on Sunday. Some foreign fighters were among those who surrendered. As an initial step towards accountability, HRW urged the United Nations Security Council to request the Secretary General to appoint a commission of experts to gather and analyse evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed in Afghanistan. The commission's findings could lay the foundation for criminal proceedings before an impartial tribunal, whether national or international. HRW maintained that Security Council action was needed, because there was likely to be little agreement among the various factions in Afghanistan over who should be examined to ascertain whether he had committed crimes or not. Meanwhile, on Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross was trying to assess the number of casualties in Mazar-e Sharif ensuing from the revolt of Taleban prisoners there. Commenting on the incident, Zia-Zarifi said: "It's not clear whether this was premeditated or set off by someone. Nonetheless, it highlights a problem that could reoccur if and when Kandahar is taken."