FOIA Documents

• In June 2006 PHR filed a Freedom of Information Request  to the Department of Defense and other government agencies, with the assistance of the law firm Ropes & Gray. After the failure of the US government to reply, PHR filed suit on February 19, 2008. The following documents are from the Department of Defense, the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency.
  

    PHR FOIA Part I (7.3 MiB, 1,470 hits)

    PHR FOIA Part II (5.5 MiB, 1,345 hits)

Reports

• 2009 AAAS Satellite Imagery Report. In May of 2009 the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) undertook a review of satellite imagery acquired of the Sheberghan area in the Jowzjan Province of northern Afghanistan. This review was done at the request of Physicians for Human Rights, who asked AAAS to provide satellite imagery analysis for their investigation of possible mass graves at Dasht-e-Leili, near Sheberghan.
  

    High-Resolution Satellite Imagery and Possible Mass Graves in Sheberghan, Afghanistan, June 26, 2009 (942.9 KiB, 1,361 hits)

    AAAS Contributes Satellite Image Analysis to Investigation of Purported Mass-Grave in Afghanistan, July 13, 2009 (Press Release) (11.4 KiB, 1,085 hits)

    AAAS Afghanistan Satellite Images for Google Earth (KML file) (2.5 KiB, 731 hits)

• 2002 PHR Report on Afghan Mass Graves. In January 2002, during a PHR trip to Northern Afghanistan, PHR Board Member Dr. Jennifer Leaning and consultant John Heffernan first documentedthe potential grave site at Dasht-e-Leili outside Sheberghan Prison. Under the auspices of the UN, PHR’s Forensic Director, Bill Haglund, and forensic consultant, Stefan Schmitt, travelled to Afghanistan in February 2002 to conduct a preliminary grave site assessment. A preliminary report on their findings at the site was compiled and made publicly available. The original 2002 report is available upon request.
  

    Preliminary Assessment of Alleged Mass Gravesites in the Area of Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan (Amended) (2.9 MiB, 1,804 hits)

Legal

• 11/17/08 Believing that the FOIA documents received to date do not represent a thorough search of the relevant records, PHR files a Motion for Summary Judgment against the Department of Defense for its failure to respond appropriately to PHR’s June 2006 FOIA request.
  

    2008-11-17 Motion of Summary Judgment (106.9 KiB, 553 hits)

• 2/19/08 PHR files a legal complaint in US District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of Defense (PDF) for its failure to respond to the June 2006 FOIA request
  

    FOIA Filing RE Dasht-e-Leili (22.8 KiB, 566 hits)

• 6/21/06 Having received no response to its advocacy, and concerned that investigation of the gravesite had still not occurred, PHR submits a request under the Freedom of Information Act (”FOIA”) to the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Air Force, the Navy, the U.S. Central Command, and the Central Intelligence Agency for all information relating to occurrences on and around November 2001 in the region of Dasht-e-Leili.
  

    2006-06-21 FOIA Request, Afghan grave (102.5 KiB, 846 hits)