You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Mass Graves in Afghanistan: Physicians for Human Rights Demands U.S. Government Investigate Some One Thousand Taliban Fighters Allegedly Massacred and Buried By the U.S.-Backed Northern Alliance

StoryAugust 19, 2002
Watch Full Show
Listen
Media Options
Listen

Related

Newsweek reported Sunday the U.N. has gathered enough evidence to justify a full-fledged criminal investigation into the deaths in Afghanistan of close to a thousand Taliban prisoners held by the U.S.-backed northern alliance. This according to a confidential UN memo.

According to the memo, evidence has been uncovered which substantiates the rumors of mass graves in an area called Dasht-i-Laili.

The captives allegedly died after being packed into sealed cargo containers en route from Konduz to the Northern Alliance prison at Sheberghan.

Amnesty International called for an investigation based on a British documentary called 'Massacre at Mazar.' The film described thousands of Taliban fighters being corralled into the containers after the battle of Konduz and claimed large numbers of prisoners died in the journey. The footage showed areas of compacted red sand, apparently caked with blood, traces of bones, including jaws, and pieces of clothing. At the time the jail in Sheberghan was under American control.

The Boston-based group, Physicians for Human Rights, sent its own team to investigate the reported massacre, and says it has repeatedly asked the US and Afghan governments, as well as the United Nations, to secure the gravesite and launch a comprehensive criminal investigation.

Guest:

  • Leonard Rubenstein, Executive Director, Physicians for Human Rights.

Related link:

Related Story

StorySep 01, 2023Biden Administration Sued as Thousands of Afghan Evacuees Are Detained Overseas Waiting for U.S. Entry
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top