U.S. Citizens Allege Torture by Pakistanis Brothers Say FBI Interrogators Made No Effort to Stop Abuse During Their Detention By Kamran Khan and John Lancaster Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, May 25, 2005; A17
KARACHI, Pakistan, May 24 -- Two U.S. citizens of Pakistani descent charged Tuesday that Pakistani security forces tortured them during eight months of secret detention and that FBI interrogators were aware of the mistreatment but did not intervene. Zain Afzal, 23, alleged that he and his older brother, Kashan, were repeatedly tortured following their arrest in Karachi last August on suspicion of links to al Qaeda. In a telephone interview from his home here Tuesday, Zain Afzal said he and his brother were questioned by FBI agents, who made no effort to stop the abuse and claimed they had no authority to help them. The brothers, who have acknowledged having links to a radical Pakistani group, were born in the United States but have spent most of their lives in Pakistan. "The FBI didn't torture us directly, but it can't be a coincidence that we were beaten severely, kept awake all night or hung upside down by Pakistani agents before each of about 10 interrogation sessions by FBI agents," Afzal said. "It was a very coordinated carrot and stick operation." The brothers, whose accounts could not be independently verified, said they were moved to various facilities in Karachi and possibly elsewhere before they were released in April. They did not allege that U.S. agents were present when they were tortured. Afzal and his brother described their experiences in detail to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which released a report on their case Tuesday. The group accused FBI agents of failing in their obligation to end the torture, to insist that the Pakistani government produce the men in court and to arrange for consular support normally provided U.S. citizens imprisoned in foreign jails. Instead, the report said, the agents "threatened the men with being sent to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, if they did not confess to involvement in terrorism." The two men, who were never charged, were released on April 22. In Washington, an FBI spokesman acknowledged that agents interviewed the Afzal brothers, but could not say how many times. "Any assertion that the FBI condoned or directed torture is false," the bureau said in a statement. "Longstanding policy of the FBI does not permit any such interview tactic, nor does the FBI condone, direct, or support the use of torture." A U.S. Embassy official in Islamabad, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. consular officials in Karachi learned of the case in October from local news reports, at which point they contacted relatives and local police. But the official declined to provide further information, citing privacy considerations. Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Sherpao, who is responsible for domestic security, asserted that the brothers "were never arrested in the country." Human rights groups have frequently accused the Bush administration of overlooking excesses by its allies in the war on terrorism, and in some cases subcontracting the interrogation of terrorism suspects to countries where U.S. officials know that torture is routinely practiced. In its 2004 human rights report, the State Department cited reports that Pakistani security personnel employed such methods as "burning with cigarettes; whipping the soles of the feet; prolonged isolation; electric shock" and "hanging upside down," among other methods. As described by the Afzal brothers, their ordeal began about 2 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2004, when security agents broke into their house in Karachi without producing arrest or search warrants, took them to an office and started "beating us with whips and rods," Zain Afzal said in his statement to Human Rights Watch. During a subsequent interrogation by "two white men who flashed FBI badges," Afzal complained that he was "illegally detained and had been tortured," his statement continued. "They said they would try to help but that all decisions were to be taken by Pakistani authorities and Pakistan was beyond their jurisdiction." In January or February, a different set of FBI officers "kept forcing us to admit our 'guilt,' to admit we were al Qaeda members and that we were planning attacks," Afzal said in his statement. "The FBI agents did not respond to the request for a lawyer or my demand to be presented in court and charged." In the interview Tuesday, Afzal said that after moving back to Pakistan as children, he and his brother returned to the United States every couple of years to visit relatives. Afzal speculated that he and his brother were arrested because they had both been affiliated at one time with Harakat ul-Ansar, a group allied with Kashmiri separatists fighting Indian forces in Kashmir. Although the group has been linked to al Qaeda, Afzal noted that in 1999, when he and his brother underwent guerrilla training at a Harakat camp, it was operating with the full patronage of Pakistan's military and intelligence services. Lancaster reported from New Delhi. Staff writer Dan Eggen in Washington contributed to this report. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052401 356.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. 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