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Britain Detains Suspected Insurgents at Afghan Base for Months Britain Confirms Long Detentions at Afghan Military Base
(about 1 hour later)
LONDON — Up to 90 Afghans are being held at a British military facility in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed Wednesday, while rejecting comparisons between their detention and that of detainees at the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. LONDON — The British Defense Ministry on Wednesday confirmed that it had been holding up to 90 Afghan detainees for months at a military base in southern Afghanistan, after legal action filed by some of the detainees’ lawyers in Britain raised human rights objections.
Mr. Hammond said that the number of suspected insurgents held by British forces at their base in Camp Bastion was higher than normal because of problems in handing them over to the Afghan legal system. The issue of transferring detainees to Afghan control has been a lasting source of tension between the international military coalition and the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai.
The British government argues that, unlike those held in Cuba, detainees in Camp Bastion are in the process of being handed over to the Afghan authorities who will then decide what action to take against them within their legal framework. A spokesman for Mr. Karzai, Adela Raz, reiterated that the president had long demanded that “any Afghan citizen held or imprisoned on Afghan soil by foreign troops should be handed over to the Afghan government.” She added that the government was investigating reports of the detentions at the British base, Camp Bastion, in Kandahar Province.
“The system has been blocked up because of the problems with transfer into the Afghan system,” Mr. Hammond said. “We would normally expect to be holding probably in the region of 20-odd people that are in the process of being passed on to the national directorate of security, the Afghan internal security service.” However, Defense Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC in London that the number of suspected insurgents held by British forces at their base in Camp Bastion was higher than normal because of problems in handing them over to the Afghan legal system.
“These people are being held pending transfer to the Afghan national security system. Within that system they would have access to Afghan lawyers,” he added. “The system has been blocked up because of the problems with transfer into the Afghan system,” Mr. Hammond said. “We would normally expect to be holding probably in the region of 20-odd people that are in the process of being passed on to the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan internal security service.”
Mr. Hammond said “the assertion that this is a secret facility is patently ridiculous,” adding that Parliament had been informed about the detentions, which he described as “a vital part of our force protection.” “These people are being held pending transfer to the Afghan national security system,” he added. “Within that system they would have access to Afghan lawyers.”
But British lawyers acting for some of the men want them charged or released, arguing that they have been held for up to 14 months without the start of formal legal proceedings in what could amount to unlawful detention. But British lawyers acting for some of the men want them charged or released soon, arguing that they have been held for up to 14 months without the start of formal legal proceedings in what could amount to unlawful detention. They filed a complaint with the British government in April, according to a news report on Wednesday by the BBC, and a full hearing on the case is set for July.
The dispute highlights the dilemma facing British and other NATO forces in Afghanistan over what to do with detainees suspected of having links to insurgent groups and concerns about their treatment if they are handed over to the Afghan authorities. In making their case, the lawyers called the detention center at Camp Bastion a “secret facility,” and raised comparisons with the American prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where terrorism suspects have been held for years without charge.
Mr. Hammond criticized the legal challenge by lawyers in Britain, arguing that some of the detainees had sought to attack British forces. Defense Secretary Hammond on Wednesday rejected that comparison, saying: “The assertion that this is a secret facility is patently ridiculous,” and noting that, unlike in Guantánamo, there was a process for turning over detainees into the Afghan legal framework.
“They are asking the court to order us to release these people, to turn them back onto the battlefield, so they can carry on with the activities for which they were detained in the first place,” Mr. Hammond told the BBC, which first reported the detentions. He added that Parliament had been informed about the detentions, which he described as “a vital part of our force protection” that had occurred during military operations in southern Afghanistan.
That would put British soldiers and other troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force at risk, Mr. Hammond added. That is a similar point posed by American officials involved in long negotiations with the Afghan government over the transfer of Afghan detainees out of the American detention facility at the Bagram air base, north of Kabul. The issue became a major sticking point in recent months after several failed attempts to hand over control of the prison, with Mr. Karzai demanding immediate and full Afghan sovereignty over the facility, and American officials seeking to ensure that hardened militant leaders would not be immediately released back onto the battlefield.
Camp Bastion is the largest British military base in Afghanistan, and Phil Shiner, a lawyer for some of the detainees, told the BBC that it has a “secret facility” that was “completely off the radar.”

Azam Ahmed contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

 This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: May 29, 2013Correction: May 29, 2013

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to Camp Bastion. It is the largest British camp in Afghanistan, not the last.

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to Camp Bastion. It is the largest British camp in Afghanistan, not the last.