Kandahar Central Jail
LocationKandahar, Afghanistan
Coordinates31°37′08″N 65°40′05″E / 31.61889°N 65.66806°E / 31.61889; 65.66806
StatusOperational
Security classMinimum
Capacity1,900[1]
Openedc. 1970s
Managed byMinistry of Interior Affairs

Kandahar Central Jail,[2] also known as Sarpuza Prison or Sarposa Prison, is a minimum security prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It has been historically used for the incarceration of common criminals of Kandahar Province.[1] In the last two decades, the facility has also been used to hold up Taliban and other insurgents. The name "Sarpuza" is a historical neighborhood in the city of Kandahar. As of 2017, the prison has approximately 1,900 inmates, and its warden is Col. Abdul Wali Hesarak.[1]

The prison has been subject to two major escapes, first in a coordinated attack in May 2008, and more recently in a tunneling escape that occurred in April 2011. The Afghan government is in the process of relocating Kandahar Central Jail to the Daman, Afghanistan, which is located outside the city limits to the south.[2] Over 1,000 prisoners were released from the prison by Taliban insurgents in August 2021, after they gained control of the city as part of the Taliban offensive.[3]

History

The year in which the Kandahar Central Jail was built is unconfirmed. It was renovated in the 1970s to house common criminals of Kandahar Province. Some prisoners who had committed murders were hanged to death at the prison site in the 1960s. During the early seventies some western hippie type tourists caught with drugs were also held here pending trial. It was pretty casual in the jail for the westerners. Hashish smoking was allowed inside the prison. There was in fact a large hookah set up under a tree that the inmates smoked from. Inmates had to provide for their own food. During the 1980s, the facility was used by KHAD to detain and torture members of the Mujahideen movement in order to extract information about rebel activities.

According to American intelligence analysts the Taliban used the prison as a "political prison".[4] The Taliban had confined Ismail Khan at Sarpuza prison for a short time in 1999. Guantanamo detainee Abd Al Rahim Abdul Raza Janko described being held in the prison following his torture by the Taliban.

The record shows that the prison continued to be used in the post-Taliban era for detention and interrogation.[5] Guantanamo detainee Sultan Sari Sayel Al Anazi faced the allegation that when he was held in the prison, prior to being sent to Guantanamo:[6] While imprisoned at Sarapuza jail in Kandahar the detainee collaborated with other prisoners to hide money in mattresses and bed frames in his prison cell.

A number of the captives were later transported in May 2012 to extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba,[5] and finally to the Parwan Detention Facility next to Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.

Captives reported to have been in held in American custody in Kandahar

Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy
  • Testified he was held in Kabul, Kandahar and Bagram before he was transferred to Guantanamo.[7]
Abdul Hai Mutmaen
Fazal Mohammad
  • An alleged former Taliban commander, asserted that the authorities in Kandahar fed the captives starvation rations; did not treat their wounds; subjected them to beatings, sexual humiliation, and attacks by vicious dogs.[8]
Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa
  • Khirullah Khairkhwa was the Taliban's Governor of Herat Province in 2000 and early 2001.
  • Fazal Mohammad reported he had seen Khirullah Khairkhwa being abused when they were both held in Kandahar in 2002.[8]
  • Khirullah Khairkhwa was transferred to Guantanamo.[9]
Murat Kurnaz
  • A German resident, has testified before the German parliament that his American captors allowed German special forces to beat and threaten him in Kandahar.[5][10][11][12]
  • Eventually transferred to Guantanamo.
Sayed Nabi Siddiqui
  • Afghan police officer who claims he was abused during 40 days he spent in US custody in 2004.[13][14]
  • Sayed Nabi Siddiqui reports being held in Gardez, Kandahar, Bagram[13]
Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil
  • Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil was the last Taliban Foreign Minister.[15]
  • Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil sent the USA prior warning of the upcoming attacks on September 11, 2001.[15]
  • Defected from the Taliban in October 2001, prior to his capture.[16]
  • Fazal Mohammad reported he had seen Muttawakil being abused when they were both held in Kandahar in 2002.[8]

Prison attack of 2008

In May 2008, 200 prisoners went on hunger strike protesting detention without charge for up to two years.[17] Many others faced summary trials they felt were unfair.[17] Forty-seven inmates physically stitched their mouths shut. The strike ended when the Afghan parliament agreed to review their detentions.

On June 13, 2008, the Taliban orchestrated the escape of 1,200 prisoners, including 350 Taliban[18] by having two suicide bombers in a tanker truck[19] blow up the main gates. Subsequently, 30 men arrived on motorcycles, killed 15 guards, and broke the locks on every cell.[20]

Following the prison breakout, the prison was rebuilt with major fortifications.

Tunneling escape of 2011

On April 24, 2011, a 350m tunnel that had been dug across a highway and under the prison walls, was used in the escape of about 475 Taliban inmates.[21] The escape has been compared to the Stalag Luft III tunnel escape in World War 2.[22] The breakout was not detected for four hours, during which most of the prisoners were transported away. It was reported that at least 71 of the escapees were recaptured.[23][24]

Release of prisoners in 2021

During the Battle of Kandahar as part of the Taliban offensive, Taliban insurgents assaulted the city to gain control from the Afghan National Security Forces. After weeks of fighting, they overran the city on 12 August 2021, during which they released over 1,000 prisoners from the Sarposa prison.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "60 prisoners released from Kandahar jail". Pajhwok Afghan News. March 6, 2017. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  2. 1 2 "Kandahar Central Jail should move out of city: Residents". Pajhwok Afghan News. December 30, 2018. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  3. 1 2 Wani, Ashraf (August 11, 2021). "Taliban overruns Kandahar jail, frees hundreds of prisoners as part of offensive". India Today. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
  4. ↑ OARDEC (26 June 2006). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Janko, Abd AL Rahim Abdul Raza" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 73–75. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  5. 1 2 3 John Goetz, Holger Stark (September 3, 2007). "German Soldiers under fire: New Testimony May Back Kurnaz Torture Claims". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  6. ↑ OARDEC (2 May 2005). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Anazi, Sultan Sari Sayel" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 8–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2016. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  7. ↑ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 34-42
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Taliban prisoner claims sex abuse in Afghan jail". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. July 28, 2002. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  9. ↑ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  10. ↑ "Did German soldiers abuse ex-prisoner?". United Press International. January 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  11. ↑ "German Soldiers Accused of Abusing Terror Suspect". Deutsche Welle. January 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  12. ↑ "Germany probes 2 in ex-Guantanamo inmate abuse case". Reuters. January 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  13. 1 2 Carlotta Gall (May 12, 2004). "An Afghan Gives His Own Account of U.S. Abuse". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  14. ↑ "US military hit by fresh prisoner abuse allegations". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. May 15, 2004. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  15. 1 2 Kate Clark (September 7, 2002). "Taleban 'warned US of huge attack'". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
  16. ↑ "Taleban minister's 'peace role' mystery". BBC News. October 17, 2001. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  17. 1 2 Time magazine, "Taliban Militants Storm Afghan Jail", June 13, 2008
  18. ↑ "Taliban reveal details of daring Kandahar prison escape". BBC News. April 25, 2011.
  19. ↑ "The Destruction of Sarposa".
  20. ↑ "Is the Taliban Making a Comeback?". Time. June 17, 2008. Archived from the original on June 21, 2008.
  21. ↑ Shah, Taimoor; Rubin, Alissa J. (April 25, 2011). "Taliban Prison Break Sets Hundreds Free at Afghan Prison". The New York Times.
  22. ↑ Jon Boone (25 April 2011). "Afghanistan's great escape: how 480 Taliban prisoners broke out of jail". The Guardian. London.quote:Kandahar's prison may not be Stalag Luft III but in terms of ingenuity, organisation and sheer cunning the successful break-out by at least 480 Taliban prisoners in the early hours of Monday morning rivals anything pulled off by British POWs in the infamous German prison camp.
  23. ↑ "Recaptured Afghan insurgents tell of tunnel escape". 27 April 2011.
  24. ↑ Thom, Shankar (July 13, 2011). "To Track Militants, U.S. Has System That Never Forgets a Face". The New York Times.
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