Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday demanded that Britain hand over within two weeks more than 80 prisoners of war being held in a British base in the south, saying the detention was against Afghan law and a breach of sovereignty.
The issue of prisoner transfers is an irritant in the relationship Karzai between and his Western backers, and has become more pronounced as the NATO-led international force prepares to pull out most of its troops by the end of next year.
Last month, a British legal firm said the detention of up to 85 Afghans for as long as 14 months in the British-controlled Camp Bastion in Helmand Province was in breach of British and international law.
The British government has cited concerns about Afghanistan’s treatment of detainees and denied that claim.
On Saturday, Afghan National Security Adviser Rangin Datfar Spanta spoke to the British embassy in Kabul and asked for the detainees to be handed over by June 22, said a statement from Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi.
“Continuing the detention of Afghan nationals by British forces will be a violation of our national sovereignty and our country’s laws,” Faizi said.
The British embassy said in a statement it had not yet seen Karzai’s message as of yesterday morning. Britain “fully supported” transferring detainees as quickly as possible to Afghan custody, but wanted assurances they would be treated well, the statement said.
“It has been the threat of UK court action that has prevented us from transferring detainees to the Afghan authorities since last November,” it added. “In resuming the transfer of UK captured detainees to Afghan custody, we must be satisfied that they do not face a real risk of serious mistreatment or torture.”
Britain it said had been working with Afghanistan as a priority “to identify a safe transfer route.”
Foreign rights groups occasionally accuse the Afghan state of using torture and abuse, while Kabul says Western nations rely on questionable international legal principles to detain Afghans without access to Afghanistan’s courts.
Numerous countries fighting in the US-led war in Afghanistan continue to hold Afghan detainees. Last month, Australia, which operates a force in Uruzgan Province, announced it was suspending transfers of prisoners to an Afghan facility due to allegations of mistreatment.
In November last year, British Secretary of Defence Philip Hammond imposed a ban on transferring suspects to Afghan forces due to concerns over ill treatment.
On May 31, the UN anti-torture watchdog urged Britain to widen and speed up investigations into alleged torture of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan by British troops, and prosecute those responsible.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese