An official report recommends for the U.S. military to review the conditions of detention in the U.S. prison at Bagram in Afghanistan so as to prevent abuses. Bagram prison, located in the air base of the same name, north of Kabul, houses some 600 detainees suspected of terrorism. Regarded as enemy combatants by the US, these prisoners can be held indefinitely and do not have the opportunity to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.

In late June, the BBC interviewed 27 former Bagram prisoners, held between 2002 and 2008, who had claimed to have suffered many abuses. They described being beaten, deprived of sleep, and threatened with dogs. “They have done things you would not do to animals,” said one of them, identified as Dr. Khandan. “They poured over cold water in winter, hot water in summer. They used dogs against us. They raised a pistol or a gun to your head and threatened death.”

None of these former prisoners suspected of belonging to or supporting al-Qaeda or the Taliban has ever been charged or tried. Some have even received an apology after their release, according to the BBC. In 2002, two prisoners died after being hung by the arms to the ceiling of their cell and beaten by American soldiers.

The report which has not been made public but is circulating among American officers of high rank also recommends separating extremist militants from other prisoners to prevent the future recruitment of combatants within the Afghan prisons.

Via The New York Times