In 2005, The New York Times obtained a 2,000-page United States Army investigatory report concerning the homicides of two unarmed civilian Afghan prisoners by U.S. military personnel in December 2002 at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility (also Bagram Collection Point or B.C.P., now the Parwan Detention Facility) in Bagram, Afghanistan, and general treatment of prisoners. Two Afghan men, Habibullah (30) and Dilawar (22), were repeatedly chained to the ceiling and beaten, resulting in their deaths. Military coroners ruled that both prisoners' deaths were homicides. Autopsies revealed severe trauma to both prisoners' legs; one of the coroners described the trauma as comparable to being run over by a bus. Seven soldiers were charged in 2005.

Hajimumin, another prisoner, told Al Jazeera that they tied them to chairs and applied electric shocks for 30 seconds a time for torture purposes.

Location

The torture and homicides allegedly took place at the military detention center known as the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, which had been built by the Soviet Union as an aircraft machine shop during the Soviet–Afghan War (1980–1989), which was a concrete-and-sheet metal facility that was retrofitted with wire pens and wooden isolation cells; the center was part of Bagram Airfield in Bagram, near Charikar in Parwan Province, Afghanistan.

Detainees In January 2010, the American military released the names of 645 detainees held at the main detention center at Bagram, modifying its long-held position against publishing such information. This was to comply with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in September 2009 by the American Civil Liberties Union, whose lawyers had also demanded detailed information about conditions, rules, and regulations at the center.

Victims

Habibullah

Habibullah died on December 4, 2002. Several U.S. soldiers hit the chained man with so-called "peroneal strikes", or severe blows to the side of the leg above the knee. This incapacitates the leg by hitting the common peroneal nerve.Common peroneal nerve dysfunction, MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia According to The New York Times:

Dilawar

Dilawar, who died on December 10, 2002, was a 22-year-old Afghan taxi driver and farmer who weighed 122 pounds and was described by his interpreters as neither violent nor aggressive.

When beaten, he repeatedly cried "Allah". The outcry appears to have amused U.S. military personnel. The act of striking him to provoke a scream of "Allah" eventually "became a kind of running joke", according to one of the MP's. "People kept showing up to give this detainee a common peroneal strike just to hear him scream out 'Allah'", he said. "It went on over a 24-hour period, and I would think that it was over 100 strikes."

The Times reported that:

Aafia Siddiqui/Prisoner 650

Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani citizen educated in the United States as a neuroscientist, was suspected of the attempted assault and killing of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. She disappeared in 2003 with her three children. She was allegedly detained for five years at Bagram with her children; she was the only female prisoner. She was known to the male detainees as "Prisoner 650". The media dubbed her the "Mata Hari of al-Qaida" or the "Grey Lady of Bagram". Yvonne Ridley says that Siddiqui is the "Grey Lady of Bagram" – a ghostly female detainee, who kept prisoners awake "with her haunting sobs and piercing screams". In 2005, male prisoners were so agitated by her plight, Ridley said, that they went on a hunger strike for six days. Siddiqui's family maintains that she was abused at Bagram.

Binyam Mohamed

Mohamed immigrated to the U.K. from Ethiopia in 1994 and sought asylum. In 2001, he converted to Islam and travelled to Pakistan, followed by Afghanistan, to see if the Taliban-run Afghanistan was "a good Islamic country". U.S. authorities believed that he was a would-be bomber who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistani immigration officials arrested him at the airport in April 2002 before he returned to the U.K., and Mohamed has said officials have used evidence gained through torture in sites in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan between 2002 and 2004, before he was "secretly rendered" to the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. In October 2008, the U.S. dropped all charges against him. Mohamed was reported as very ill as a result of a hunger strike in the weeks before his release.Profile: Binyam Mohamed, BBC In February 2009, Mohamed was interviewed by Moazzam Begg, a fellow Bagram detainee and founder of CagePrisoners, an organization to help released detainees. Mohamed identified a photo of Aafia Siddiqui as the woman whom he and other male detainees had seen at Bagram, known as "Prisoner 650".Moazzam Begg, "Conversation with Binyam Mohamed" , CagePrisoners website

Others

Mohammed Sulaymon Barre, a Somali refugee who worked for a funds transfer company, described his Bagram interrogation as "torture".[ Summarized transcripts (.pdf)], from Mohammed Sulaymon Barre's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 30-37 Barre said he was picked up and thrown around the interrogation room when he would not confess to a false allegation. He was put into an isolation chamber that was maintained at a piercingly cold temperature for several weeks, and deprived of sufficient rations during this period. As a result of this treatment, his hands and feet swelled, causing him such excruciating pain that he could not stand up.

Zalmay Shah, a citizen of Afghanistan, alleges mistreatment during detention at Bagram air base. An article published in the May 2, 2007, issue of The New Republic contained excerpts from an interview with Shah. He said he had originally cooperated closely with the Americans. He had worked with an American he knew only as "Tony" in the roundup of former members of the Taliban. According to the article:

Shah was eventually released.

Others include Mohammed Salim and Moazzam Begg.

Investigation and prosecution

In October 2004, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command concluded that there was probable cause to charge 27 officers and enlisted personnel with criminal offenses in the Dilawar case, ranging from dereliction of duty to maiming and involuntary manslaughter. Fifteen of the soldiers were also cited for probable criminal responsibility in the Habibullah case. Seven soldiers have been charged so far. According to an article published in the October 15, 2004, by The New York Times, 28 soldiers were under investigation. Some of the soldiers were reservists in the 377th Military Police Company under the command of Captain Christopher M. Beiring. The rest were in the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion under the command of Captain Carolyn A. Wood.

On October 14, 2004, the Criminal Investigation Command forwarded its report from its investigation to the commanders of 28 soldiers.

As of January 20, 2012, 17 soldiers have been charged (15 of which listed).

Soldier Unit Charges Sgt. James P. Boland 377th MP Charged in August 2004 with assault, maltreatment of a detainee, and dereliction of duty for alleged conduct in connection with treatment of a detainee on December 10, 2002, at Bagram. He was charged with a second specification of dereliction of duty in the death on December 3, 2002, of another detainee. All charges were dropped. He was given a letter of reprimand and eventually left the Army. Spc. Brian Cammack 377th MP Pled guilty on May 20, 2005, to charges of assault and two counts of making a false statement, and agreed to testify in related cases in exchange for a dismissal of the charge of maltreating detainees. Sentenced to three months in prison, reduction to the rank of private, and a bad-conduct discharge. Cammack claimed he hit Habibullah because Habibullah had spat on him. Pfc. Willie V. Brand 377th MP Charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, maiming, maltreatment, and making a false sworn statement. Convicted in August 2005, of assault, maltreatment, making a false sworn statement, and maiming, charges involving Dilawar. Acquitted on charges involving Habibullah. Reduced to the rank of private. Sgt. Anthony Morden 377th MP Charged with assault, maltreatment, and making a false official statement. Pleaded guilty. Sentenced to 75 days of confinement, reduction to the rank of private, and a bad-conduct discharge. Sgt. Christopher W. Greatorex 377th MP Acquitted of charges of abuse, maltreatment and making a false official statement. Sgt. Darin M. Broady 377th MP Acquitted of charges of assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. Capt. Christopher M. Beiring 377th MP Charged with dereliction of duty and making a false official statement. All charges dropped on 6 January 2006. Given a letter of reprimand. Staff Sgt. Brian L. Doyle 377th MP Charged on October 13, 2005 Acquitted of dereliction of duty and maltreatment. Sgt. Duane M. Grubb 377th MP Accused of assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. Prosecutors said Grubb repeatedly struck handicapped captive Zarif Khan with his knees. Grubb testified that he had never hit the prisoner. He was acquitted of all charges. Sgt. Alan J. Driver 377th MP Charged with assault. Acquitted Thursday February 23, 2006. Spc. Nathan Adam Jones 377th MP Charged with assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. Given a letter of reprimand. Spc. Glendale C. Walls 519th MI Pled guilty on August 23, 2005. Received a sentence of two months imprisonment. Sgt. Selena M. Salcedo 519th MI Charged in May 2005 with assault, dereliction of duty, and lying to investigators. Suspected of stepping on Dilawar's bare foot, grabbing his beard, kicking him, and then ordering the detainee to remain chained to the ceiling. At trial, Salcedo pleaded guilty and received a sentence of a one-grade reduction in rank, $1,000 fine, and a written reprimand. Sgt. Joshua Claus 519th MI Charged May 17, 2005 with assault, maltreatment, and making a false statement. Pled guilty and received a five-month prison sentence in 2005. Pfc. Damien M. Corsetti 519th MI

Involved but uncharged Some interrogators involved in this incident were sent to Iraq, and were assigned to Abu Ghraib prison. PFC Corsetti was fined and demoted while assigned to Abu Ghraib for not having permission to conduct an interrogation.

Allegations of widespread abuse

A May 2005 editorial of The New York Times noted parallels between military behavior at Bagram and the later abuse and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq:

Human Rights Watch has reported that detainees at Bagram are held in harsh conditions without access to due process, including torture, sleep deprivation, shackles, and other harsh treatment similar to other reports about military prisons.Abuses by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan Retrieved 29 January 2026 Amnesty International has expressed concern about the transfer of prisoners from Bagram to Afghan prisons, describing it as "exposing prisoners to torture and ill-treatment."soldier killed in Afghanistan accident Retrieved 29 January 2026 The ACLU has stressed that the abuse at Bagram is systematic and requires full disclosure of prison conditions and accountability.New Evidence Of Abuse At Bagram Underscores Need For Full Disclosure About Prison, Says ACLU Retrieved 29 January 2026

United States government response