Afghan Detainees Sent Home to Face Closed-Door Trials

At least 32 detainees transferred from Guantanamo are being held in a high-security wing of the Pul-i-Charki prison near Kabul that was built with U.S. funds. (By Musadeq Sadeq -- Associated Press)

Lal said he was turned over to U.S. forces by Afghans seeking revenge for his arrest of Taliban fighters near the Pakistani border. Once in American hands, he said, he was interrogated for several hours about his alleged ties to the Taliban, then taken to the U.S.-run military prison at Bagram, where he was questioned for a little more than two months. With his head shrouded in a black hood and his hands and feet shackled, he was next flown to Guantanamo, where he remained in solitary confinement for nearly two years, he said.

"When I was taken to Guantanamo, in every interrogation, they were asking, 'Where is [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar? Is he still alive?' Then they were asking, 'Where is Osama bin Laden? Is he still alive? What are his activities?' I said, 'I don't know. You should know where he is,' " Lal said in a recent interview.

For Lal, the accusations of involvement with the Taliban were ironic. He said he had fought the Taliban for several years as a member of the U.S.-allied Northern Alliance.

While it was impossible to verify much of Lal's account, he did tell his interrogators that he was a member of the Northern Alliance, according to the transcript of a December 2004 military tribunal at Guantanamo on his case. He also told them that, after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, he had assisted U.S.-led coalition forces in tracking down persons of interest. Three witnesses called at Lal's tribunal confirmed that he had fought the Taliban. Still, he remained in U.S. custody.

In June 2006, a delegation of Afghan officials visited Guantanamo and interviewed 94 detainees as part of Afghanistan's negotiations with the United States to return prisoners to their home country. Afterward, Lal was released to Afghan custody -- but he went straight to Block D, he said.

"I told them I am innocent. I have already had two trials. The people who were in charge said: 'Yes, we know. Just wait; you will be released,' " Lal said.

A nine-page transcript of a summary of the U.S. Defense Department investigation into Lal's case, dated last year, provided the bulk of the evidence that allowed Afghan authorities to hold Lal for months, records show. The file shows that no physical evidence was collected, no polygraph was taken and no other corroborating witnesses were produced in his case. Lal, 45, returned to his home and five children in February after he was released from Block D without further charges.

Advocates for other Block D detainees say the judicial system is targeting allies of the government here.

Hafizullah Khail was appointed chief administrator of a district in Paktia province by the Afghan government shortly after the fall of the Taliban, according to relatives, defense lawyers and a review of U.S. military records. In March 2002, he was arrested by the district police chief, a longtime political rival, and turned over to American forces, accused of having ties to the Taliban. He was taken to the U.S. prison at Bagram and later flown to Guantanamo.

Hafizullah was held in solitary confinement for at least 18 months before his case was first heard at a military tribunal in December 2004, according to court records and his cousin, Zahir Qadir. "His hands and feet were always in shackles, and he was threatened by his interrogators. He didn't know what the exact charges were," Qadir said. "The Americans said that he was appointed by the Taliban to be the district chief, but that was not true. He fought against the Taliban. They were enemies of each other."

Hafizullah's case was heard again by an American administrative review board Nov. 10, 2005, records show. Military officials charged Hafizullah with having ties to the Taliban through his brother, an allegation Hafizullah has strongly denied. "I do not know al-Qaeda. I haven't worked for the Taliban government," Hafizullah told the board. "I have no connections with the Taliban. I am still against the Taliban. The Taliban looted my house and put me in jail for one month."

Later, the same Afghan police chief who arrested Hafizullah and turned him over to U.S. forces in 2002 was also accused of supporting the Taliban and detained at Guantanamo. He and Hafizullah eventually became friends, according to Hafizullah's relatives and attorney.

Last year, Hafizullah was transferred to Block D. As of late last week, that's where he remained, according to his relatives and Horowitz. It is unclear when or whether his case will go to trial.

In late February, Karzai, the Afghan president, appointed seven Afghan officials to a special commission to review Block D cases. So far, the panel has reviewed 120 cases, while 137 other detainees' files have yet to be examined, according to Hashimi, the former justice official, who is also a member of the commission. More than 50 of the detainees in the cases reviewed are expected to be released for lack of evidence. Hashimi said more than 30 will be retried in Afghan courts, while five will have their sentences reduced because the commission determined their punishment "too severe."

White and Tate reported from Washington.