Ex-Bagram detainees allege abuse

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Abuse of prisoners held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan has continued under the Obama administration, two former teenage detainees allege.

The teens told Saturday's Washington Post that while they were held at Bagram air base north of Kabul, they were beaten by guards, photographed naked, deprived of sleep and kept in solitary confinement for at least two weeks while undergoing daily interrogations about alleged links to the Taliban.

The Post identified the ex-detainees as Issa Mohammad, 17, and Abdul Rashid, who said he is younger than 16. The newspaper said the boys said they were punched and slapped in the face by their captors, with one interrogator allegedly forcing one boy to look at pornography alongside a photograph of his mother.

The newspaper said the teens apparently were describing a "black" prison run by U.S. Special Operations, separate from the main Bagram Theater Internment Facility.

Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Wright didn't respond to the specific allegations, but insisted that all prisoners are treated humanely and in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and U.S. law.

"Department of Defense policy is and always has been to treat detainees humanely," he said.