Prisoner 650- The Grey Lady of Bagram

Via Iran Affairs-

Respect National Council member Yvonne Ridley flew to Pakistan on a whirlwind trip this week to highlight the plight of a woman who has been held in US custody in Afghanistan for more than four years. She referred to the woman, known only by her prisoner number 650, as The Grey Lady of Bagram.

Details of Prisoner 650 are being kept secret by the US Military. Ridley, also a Cage Prisoner Patron, revealed how she first read about the woman in a book written by ex-Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg called Enemy Combatant.

“I remembered Moazzam telling me about the woman’s scream and how he first imagined they could be from his wife. In truth I thought may be he had just been listening to a tape recorder as part of a form of mental torture.

“However, we now know the screams came from a woman who has been held in Bagram for some years. And without compromising anyone, we can also reveal from impeccable sources that her prison number is 650.

“This information has been enough to scramble the Pakistan media into action by demanding the return of this woman to her homeland immediately,” added Ridley.

Joining her at the open air press conference in Islamabad at the HQ of Khan’s PTI party was Saghir Hussain, a lawyer and member of Cage. He handed over a dossier prepared by Cage which reveals the full extent of the Disappeared from Pakistan, individuals who have been literally kidnapped from the streets. “Prisoner 650 is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg of human rights abuses, illegal detentions and rendition flights. It is a shameful episode in Pakistan’s history which must be put right.”