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1 September 2011updated 09 Sep 2021 5:53am

Special investigation: a charter for torture

In Afghanistan, British forces hand over prisoners with only flimsy guarantees they will not be abus

By Angus Stickler and Kate Clark

What is striking about the history of torture in Afghanistan is that no matter which regime is in power – the communists, the mujahedin, the Taliban and now Hamid Karzai’s western-supported government – the methods remain the same. From the 1980s to the present day, electrocution and beating have been the principal weapons used against those the state deems dangerous or undesirable.

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