American Civil Liberties Union

In April 2009, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records relating to the detention and treatment of prisoners held at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. The ACLU is asking the Obama administration to make public records pertaining to the number of people currently detained at Bagram, their names, citizenship, place of capture and length of detention, as well as records pertaining to the process afforded those prisoners to challenge their detention and designation as "enemy combatants."

The U.S. government's Bagram detention facility has been the focus of widespread media attention and public concern for many years, but very little information is publically available about the secrecy-shrouded facility or the prisoners held there. The U.S. government has been detaining an unknown number of prisoners at the Bagram detention facility since 2002, and recent news reports indicate that the more than 600 individuals are currently detained there – some of whom have been held for as long as six years without access to counsel or a meaningful opportunity to challenge their imprisonment. The conditions of confinement at Bagram are reportedly primitive, with allegations of mistreatment and abuse continuing to surface; in fact, at least two prisoners have died there. There is public concern in the U.S. and around the world that Bagram has become, in effect, the new Guantánamo.

In January 2010, in response to the ACLU’s lawsuit, the Defense Department released for the first time a list of the 645 prisoners held at Bagram in September 2009, but other vital information including their citizenship, how long they have been held, in what country they were captured and the circumstances of their capture has been redacted.

Although the nation is embroiled in an intense public debate about U.S. policy pertaining to the detention and treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody, Americans remain completely in the dark about even the most basic facts about Bagram. When prisoners are in U.S. custody and under U.S. control – no matter the location – our values and commitment to the rule of law are at stake. Now that President Obama has taken the positive step of ordering Guantánamo shut down, it is critical that we don't permit 'other Gitmos' to continue elsewhere.

TIMELINE

April 2009: ACLU files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for Bagram records.

May 2009: CIA sends ACLU a letter refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records relating to Bagram.

July 2009: Defense Department sends ACLU a letter refusing to release a list of Bagram detainees.

September 2009: ACLU files lawsuit to enforce FOIA request.

January 2010: In response to the ACLU’s lawsuit, the Defense Department releases for the first time a list of the 645 prisoners held at Bagram in September 2009. Although the list includes prisoners’ names, other vital information is redacted.

March 2010: ACLU files a brief asking a federal court to order Defense Department to disclose basic facts it is improperly withholding about Bagram prisoners, and to order CIA to process the FOIA request.

April 12, 2010: As a result of the ACLU’s FOIA litigation, DOD releases a less-redacted version of the list of Bagram detainees.

See the FOIA documents >>