Lawyer Who Told of US Abuses at Afghan Bases Loses UN Post

M. Cherif Bassiouni, a professor of law at DePaul University in Chicago who was the human rights commission’s independent expert for Afghanistan, released a 21-page report last week, accusing American military forces and civilian contractors of abusing and torturing prisoners. He had been expecting a routine two-year renewal of his function, but this did not happen. He suspects U.S. lobbying as the cause.

UNITED NATIONS – A United Nations human rights monitor who accused American military forces and civilian contractors last week of abusing and torturing prisoners in Afghanistan has been told his job is over.

M. Cherif Bassiouni, a professor of law at DePaul University in Chicago who was the human rights commission’s independent expert for Afghanistan, said Friday that he had received an e-mail message from a commission official in Geneva a week ago telling him his mandate had expired.

The day before, he had released a 21-page report saying that Americans running prisons in Afghanistan had acted above the law “by engaging in arbitrary arrests and detentions and committing abusive practices, including torture.”

In an interview from his Chicago office, he said that he had been expecting a routine two-year renewal but that the United States had lobbied against him because of his persistent efforts to examine American-supervised prisons and his disclosure that prisoners were being detained in remote “fire bases” constructed for combat operations.

Kurtis Cooper, a State Department spokesman, denied that Mr. Bassiouni’s ouster could be attributed to American pressure. “This was a decision that was made in light of the fact that more than three years after the Taliban, the human…

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Born and raised in The Netherlands and living in Canada since 2000. Spent most of his professional career in the IT industry for corporations. Now self-employed. Loves music, graphics, science, politics and various other things that happen to pass in...