Former U.S. Detainees Convicted in One-Hour Trials in Afghanistan

Afghan detainees formerly held by the United States are being tried in Afghanistan in secretive trials that last one hour or less, human rights investigators told the New York Times.

The detainees were housed at Guantanamo Bay and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan before being handed over to their home country of Afghanistan, the story says. One observer said trials typically last from a half hour to an hour, but one was conducted in less than 10 minutes. They are conducted in a new court at a high-security Afghan prison.

Convictions and sentences as long as 20 years appear to be based mainly on summaries of allegations by the U.S. military. Sixty-five out of 82 prisoners who went to trial have been convicted, according to a report by Human Rights First that was released today. The Times obtained a draft copy.

“These are no-witness paper trials that deny the defendants a fundamental fair-trial right to challenge the evidence and mount a defense,” said Sahr MuhammedAlly, a lawyer for Human Rights First who spoke to the newspaper.

Sandra Hodgkinson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detention policy, told the Times the prosecutions are not being carried out at the request of the United States. “These are prosecutions that are being done by Afghans for crimes committed on their territory by their nationals,” she said.