650 innocent prisoners free from Bagram

KABUL): A review board investigating prisoner cases on Monday announced the release of 650 “innocent” inmates from the Bagram jail in central Parwan province.

Abdul Shakoor Dadras, a member of the board, told a news conference in Kabul they had started investigating the prisoners’ cases in April. He said 650 of the 764 prisoners had been found innocent.

He regretted the illegal imprisonment of the innocent people, saying the victims themselves were unaware as to why they had been behind bars. They were held without evidence, he added.

Dadras said Afghanistan had a constitution and no one could sentence anyone without a solid proof. Jailing someone without evidence was a crime, the committee member acknowledged.

Those who are guilty of suicide attacks, explosions, murder and disrupting public order would not be released by the body, he stressed.

In April, President Hamid Karzai appointed the three-member committee to investigate prisoners’ cases and collect information about those imprisoned without evidence.

Karzai also asked the Supreme Court and the Attorney-General Office to appoint professional officials at the Bagram jail to ensure early investigations into prisoner cases and announce verdicts.

Control of the jail was handed over by US forces to the Ministry of Defence on March 25 after a prolonged dispute between the two countries over what Kabul called non-adherence to due legal process.

mds/mud

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