According to a report published in the Balochistan Post, Zaeef was tortured excessively at the detention center. The torture was so excessive that he breathed his last at the camp, his relatives said.

However, neither the Afghan government nor US sources have confirmed his death, the paper said.

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef was arrested by Pakistan�€�s security forces, with the help of their American counterparts, ignoring his diplomatic status and his application for political asylum in Pakistan to escape the wrath of Americans in Afghanistan.

He was the senior most official of the Taliban government who could be arrested by the US forces with the help of Pakistan.

�€oePakistani authorities later handed him over to their masters and they bundled him to Guantanamo prison facility in Cuba along with hundreds of other Afghan, Pakistan and Arab prisoners,�€� the Post commented.

In a report published last April and sent to the US government, Amnesty International hit out at violations of the rights of prisoners held by the US army in Cuba and Afghanistan.

News agencies reported Amnesty�€�s concern that treatment of detainees by the US undermines human rights and may be cruel and degrading.

Zaeef was the senior most official of the Taliban government who could be arrested by the US forces with the help of Pakistan

�€oeThe USA�€�s �€�pick and choose�€� approach to the Geneva Convention is unacceptable, as is its failure to respect fundamental international human rights standards,�€� including refusing detainees access to legal counsel, the organization said in the 62-page document.

Among other charges, the group said Washington had transferred and held prisoners in conditions that could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

In the strongly worded memorandum, Amnesty repeated its request to Washington to be allowed to visit the prisoners held in Afghanistan and at the US base where some 300 alleged members of the Al-Qaeda group or the Taliban were sent. Those detained represent 33 countries.

Another 200 others are being held at US facilities in Afghanistan. A previous request sent to the US government in January 2002 came to nothing, the London-based human rights organization said.

In its report, Amnesty again accused the United States of failing to grant the detainees�€� rights that are universally recognized for any suspect placed in provisional detention.

It denounced the American authorities�€� failure to give the detainees prisoner of war status, to grant them access to a lawyer or to bring them before a competent tribunal as laid down in the Geneva Conventions.

�€oeThe US government must ensure that all its actions in relation to those in its custody in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay comply with international law and standards,�€� Amnesty International wrote.

�€oeThis is crucial if justice is to be done�€� and if respect for the rule of law and human rights is not to be undermined.�€�

Meanwhile, a US media report said Tuesday, July 30, that the fact that some of Osama bin Laden�€�s bodyguards may be among the prisoners held by the United States in Guantanamo Bay suggests that the Al-Qaeda leader is probably dead, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

If Bin Laden�€�s bodyguards were captured, it is a likely indication that he is dead, US officials told CNN.

(IslamOnline & News Agencies)

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