Amnesty International fears insurgents are tortured once handed to the National Directorate of Security in Kabul.

THE NEW Zealand SAS is helping catch insurgents who are then handed over to the Afghan secret police – an organisation so notorious for torture that the British military has been banned from handing prisoners to it.

High court judges in London recently upheld a ban on British forces transferring prisoners to the National Directorate of Security in Kabul because of "a real risk" they would be "subjected to torture or serious mistreatment".

Yesterday Defence Minister Wayne Mapp confirmed that prisoners arrested by Afghanistan's Crisis Response Unit, which the SAS works with, are transferred to the interrogation centre referred to in the British judgement.

Photo: Dominion Post Wayne Mapp (left, with Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae) confirms prisoners are transferred to the controversial centre.

If it was proved the SAS captured prisoners who were transferred to the security directorate, the Defence Force could face legal action similar to the British case, where the courts ruled transfers were a breach of the British government's human rights policy, upholding a claim they led to "horrible abuse" that violated international law and human rights.

Amnesty International New Zealand chief executive Patrick Holmes said his group was "deeply concerned" because "the directorate has a pattern of human rights violations perpetrated with impunity".

A CRU commander in Kabul said the SAS was "very, very involved" in capturing insurgents. He commented on a joint raid the night before in which five people were captured, telling the Star-Times: "I wouldn't say we did this by ourselves. It was collaborative."

The Star-Times understands the SAS has taken part in arrests more than two dozen times since it began working with the CRU last year. There was no suggestion either mistreated prisoners, but the directorate's reputation for torture is well established.

"Dozens of detainees – some arrested arbitrarily and detained without access to lawyers, families, or courts – have been subjected to torture and other ill treatment," Holmes said.

The British court was told that at least one prisoner handed to the directorate had died, while others suffered torture, including amputations, electric shocks, sleep, food and water deprivation, beatings and burns.

Mapp initially told the Star-Times he was "not specifically" aware prisoners taken on joint operations were transferred to the directorate but later said: "It's likely some are [transferred to the NDS], yes."

He said names were passed to the Red Cross, but the prisoners were "an Afghan responsibility. They are detained by the CRU and dealt with in accordance with Afghan law".

Torture is forbidden under international law. Countries are also forbidden from transferring prisoners to a third party if it is likely they will be mistreated. The question of who captures prisoners is important because the "detaining authority" is legally responsible for ensuring they are not mistreated.

Since the start of the "war on terror", some nations have avoided responsibility for transferred prisoners by downplaying soldiers' roles in their capture.

Holmes said regardless of whether the SAS had been in "effective control", New Zealand had to ensure the Afghan government prohibited the directorate from detaining prisoners.

The Defence Force position is that the CRU has the lead role. Lieutenant-General Jerry Mateparae said in February that SAS members only "assisted", but in an Official Information Act response to the Star-Times in March, he said "SAS members have not assisted in detaining persons" or making arrests.

In June he told a select committee that the SAS had been in the vicinity 22 times when Afghan authorities arrested suspects, but had not arrested or detained anyone themselves.

The Defence Force has not responded to a Star-Times request two months ago for its assessments of the directorate's human rights record or willingness to follow international law on prisoner treatment. Mapp told a select committee in June he had no evidence prisoners were mistreated, but a 2009 Amnesty report said the directorate faced "credible allegations of systematic and routine torture and ill-treatment of detainees".

Holmes said even the Afghan government, in a UN report, acknowledged "some criticisms of mistreatment and torture of prisoners" by the group.

The Star-Times revealed last year that New Zealand had signed an agreement with the Afghan government that any prisoners the SAS transferred would be treated within international humanitarian law, but it is unlikely that would cover prisoners the SAS captured but the CRU signed in.

Mapp declined to give details of the agreement, but said: "I can assure you that we have got the appropriate protections."

But Holmes said: "Whatever is in the agreement does not change New Zealand's obligation to ensure detainees are protected from torture."