US Justice Department Admits to Holding Children at Bagram Air Force Base

Attorneys from the International Justice Network (IJN), the organization who has championed the rights of innocents held at US prisons in Afghanistan, today expressed outrage over recent revelations by the Justice Department that they are holding youth under the age of 18 at the notorious adult prison. In a report released to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the United States government admitted to holding over 90 children in Afghanistan, including 10 children who currently remain at the Bagram prison among the adult population. 

"With all the documented torture, abuse, and injustice perpetrated at secretly-run US prisons abroad, it comes as a shock to learn that even young children have not been immune from being held without due process at Bagram." said Tina Monshipour Foster, Executive Director, International Justice Network. 

According to IJN Litigation Director and Stanford Human Rights Professor Barbara Olshansky, "International law and practice clearly prohibits holding children in such terrible and terrifying prisons, and there does not appear to be any legitimate purpose for holding these children without access to their families or lawyers."

The International Justice Network is the only human rights organization representing detainees at Bagram. The group has filed several lawsuits on behalf of Bagram detainees since October 2006.

International Justice Network - Justice Department Admits to Holding Children at Bagram Air Force Base