Reykjavik Transit

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rules the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts does not extend to foreigners held at Bagram Air Force Base in the Afghan theater of war, and reverses a U.S. district judge who allowed the detainees' petitions.
David Sentelle, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. Harry Edwards was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, and David Tatel by President Bill Clinton. David Sentelle is the only member who remains from the panel that appointed Kenneth Starr as an independent counsel, who, at the time, was considered to be a partisan choice.

Labels: Afghanistan, Bagram, David Sentelle, David Tatel, detainees, Harry Edwards, prison

The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison,While Mr. Obama signed an order to eliminate so-called black sites run by the Central Intelligence Agency in January, it did not also close this jail, which is run by military Special Operations forces.

Nine former prisoners have told the BBC that they were held in a separate building, and subjected to abuse. The facility is referred to by many former prisoners as the Tor Jail, which translates as "black jail".

The US military says the main prison, now called the Detention Facility in Parwan, is the only detention facility on the base. Manfred Nowak, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture, said that the site fell into something of a legal limbo.

Labels: Admiral Olsen, Afghanistan, Bagram, black jail, black site, Parwan, Special Operations forces