Britain to resume transfer of 'unlawfully held' Afghan prisoners A row over their treatment erupted when Mr Hammond confirmed for the first time that up to 90 prisoners were in British custody. They are being held at Camp Bastion's Temporary Holding Facility in Helmand. "We would like nothing more than to be able to hand these people over to the Afghan authorities so that they can go properly through the Afghan judicial system," the Defence Secretary said. These people are suspected of murdering British troops, of facilitating, or planting or being involved with [bombs]. International troops in Afghanistan are normally only allowed to hold captives for only 96 hours before they must be released or handed back to the local authorities for trial. Britain stopped transfers of prisoners to the Afghan justice system in April 2012. Mr Hammond attempted to restart them in October, but the bar was extended after the High Court heard secret evidence about torture in Afghan jails. It is now thought they will be handed over via a "safe route" once Britain has received assurances from the Afghans that they will not be mistreated. Mr Hammond pointed out that the same lawyers representing the prisoners at Camp Bastion had pushed for the original bar on transfers. He said: "Last year [Public Interest Lawyers] started proceedings against the department precisely to prevent us handing them over to the Afghan judicial authorities because of concerns about treatment of prisoners." Releasing the prisoners would put British troops at risk, he added. He said: "They are asking the court to order us to release these people to turn them back onto the battlefield so they can carry on with the activities for which they were detained in the first place, putting British troops and other coalition troops at risk. Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, said Britain should have put more effort into training and inspecting the Afghan justice system and the government was acting in an "entirely unconstitutional" way. He added: "Whatever the solution is, flagrant breaches of the common law and international law are not the answer." The international custody of Afghan Taliban prisoners has caused increasing friction between Hamid Karzai's government and his international backers. He has repeatedly demanded the transfer of all Afghan prisoners, despite international concerns they will be tortured, or corruption will allow dangerous Taliban captives to walk free. Adela Raaz, deputy spokesman for Afghan president, said: "The Afghan government does not want a single Afghan locked up with the foreign forces."" A Ministry of Defence spokesman added: "Detention operations are an important part of our force protection measures protecting British troops, our allies and partners, as well as the Afghan civilian population. They directly contribute to the success of the Nato coalition mission in Afghanistan and ultimately to UK national security. The threat of UK court action is currently preventing us from transferring detainees to the Afghan authorities. The UK's temporary holding facilities at Camp Bastion are regularly monitored by the Red Cross.