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Physicians for Human Rights Active in Afghanistan & Palestine: Report
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| Malnourished
inmates at a prison in Shebarghan, where a mass gravesite may
exist with unaccounted captured Taliban.
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WASHINGTON,
May 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. group Physicians
for Human
Rights
(PHR) said in a preliminary report that some 50 Palestinians were
killed in Jenin refugee camp during the Israeli incursion in the West
Bank town.
They
also issued an appeal for the interim administration in Afghanistan
and the international community to protect alleged mass gravesites in
Afghanistan.
In
a forensic report, the Boston-based medical group said that 45
Palestinians were killed and another 200 injured, but emphasized that
these figures are not final.
The
physicians' group, which quickly dispatched a team to the town of
Jenin and the neighboring refugee camp in April, consulted the
hospital's archives and stated that 33 percent of the patients were
under the age of 20, including a two-year-old, while 12.7 percent of
the patients were over 50 years old.
Nearly
19 percent of the injured were women. Women, children and people over
50 accounted for 38 percent of the reported fatalities.
One
out of three of the dead were killed by gunshot, most often to the
head or the chest, while 13 percent of the wounds resulted from blows
by Israeli soldiers.
The
authors said their findings "raise serious issues, including
those relating to the shooting of civilians and access to medical
care."
PHR
insisted on the "need for a thorough, objective, and
comprehensive investigation of the Israeli Defense Forces [IDF]
operation in Jenin and its refugee camp.
"PHR
calls on the Government of Israel to allow a U.N. fact-finding team
[to the area] without delay to establish the facts."
In
Afghanistan, PHR called for the protection of two mass gravesites near
Mazar-i-Sharif. In a report, the group stated it was concerned that
“the bodies at a site found near the village of Shebarghan include
Taliban prisoners who were transported to this site in truck
containers.”
They
have called for a formal investigation and until that time, have
requested the interim government of Hamid Karzai to protect the site
because, “The examination of bodies and dignified burial of remains
will contribute to the truth and accountability process, which is
essential for future peace and stability in Afghanistan.”
PHR
sent two delegations to the alleged mass gravesites in Mazar-i-Sharif
conducting fact-finding and preliminary forensic assessments in
January and February.
The
February trip included forensic experts who intended to conduct more
detailed assessments of the surfaces and locations of the sites, but
they were unable to conduct a thorough investigation at the time.
As
a result of the incomplete investigation, they have issued an appeal
calling for protection of the sites and the establishment of an
independent team to investigate the areas where the alleged mass
gravesites are located.
The
sites in question may contain evidence of the conflict over the
control of Mazar-i-Sharif going as far back as 1997 and 1998.
In
addition “fresh” bodies may have been brought to the sites between
late December 2001 and early January 2002, when witnesses said they
saw three trucks at the Shebarghan site.
PHR
speculates that the recent “delivery” may account for missing
numbers of dead in the fall of Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif in late 2001,
and are calling on authorities to “immediately account for the
numbers of Taliban prisoners who were allegedly taken from Kunduz.”
In
its appeal, PHR stated, “all alleged past, present and ongoing human
rights violations and war crimes should be investigated regardless of
ethnicity or political affiliation of the perpetrator of victim.,”
in the conflict in the region.
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