[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said Friday that the United States has consistently failed to investigate and prosecute [HRW report] allegations of abuse of Afghan detainees. The group welcomed this week's prison sentence [JURIST report] for CIA contractor David Passaro [JURIST news archive], who was found guilty of assault in the beating death of Abdul Wali [wikipedia profile] at an Afghanistan-Pakistan boarder post in 2003, but characterized the case as "a singular exception." HRW decried the lack of thorough investigations and the generally light punishments received by US personnel implicated in detainee killings in Afghanistan, noting that Passaro could have been charged with torture and homicide. US District Judge Terrence Boyle [official profile] said the absence of an autopsy on Wali contributed to Passaro avoiding a murder charge.

The HRW report also criticized the Justice Department for not investigating whether the military's civilian leadership committed crimes by authorizing abusive or torturous interrogations. HRW originally called for such an investigation [JURIST report] in April 2005. AFP has more.