Afghan detainees in video link with families: Red Cross

[LeighAnn]

Source: AFP

KABUL (AFP) — Men detained by the United States in Afghanistan on suspicion of links to terrorism have been able to communicate with their families via video link for the first time, the Red Cross said Monday.

The families of about 60 detainees at the largest US base in Afghanistan, at Bagram, had seen and spoken to their relatives in video conference calls organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross last week, it said.

More were due to link up Monday in an initiative worked on for years by the ICRC, which has been urging US authorities to allow family visits for detainees at Bagram and the larger detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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"It was set up basically to reassure detainees and their families by allowing them to see and speak to one another," he said.



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