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.

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.

Agency Responses and ACLU Appeals

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
> ACLU administrative appeal (6/23/2009)
> CIA letter refusing to confirm or deny existence of records (5/13/2009)

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
> ACLU administrative appeal of withholding of Bagram detainee list (8/13/2009)
> DOD letter refusing to release list of Bagram detainees (7/28/2009)
> DOD letter denying ACLU's expedited processing and fee waiver appeal (7/14/2009)
> ACLU administrative appeal of expedited processing and fee waiver denial (6/12/2009)
> DOD letter refusing expedited processing of FOIA request and denying fee waiver (5/6/2009)

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
> DOJ letter granting expedited processing of FOIA request (5/15/2009)

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
> ACLU's second administrative appeal of fee waiver denial (6/30/2009)
> ACLU's first administrative appeal of fee waiver denial (6/15/2009)
> State Dept. letter granting expedited processing of FOIA request and denying fee waiver (6/2009)