A report compiled by six human rights groups identifies "ghost detainees" allegedly held in secret CIA prisons. The report, titled Off the Record, identifies 39 people, including children as young as 7, who have been subjected to "enforced disappearances" at the hands of the United States. CIA spokesmen have dismissed the report, stating that the CIA acts in "strict accordance with American law" and emphasized that "The United States does not conduct or condone torture." The U.S. President, George Bush, has said that all secret detention facilities were vacated last September, however, the CIA has transferred "ghost detainees" to the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as recently as April 2007.
The report provides a brief historical account of the 39 people alleged to be held in secret detention. The report is assembled from information provided by former prisoners, as well as officials from the U.S., Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen. The reports states that these individuals were captured and flown under "extraordinary renditions" to secret prison facilities. In May, a U.S. civil liberties group filed a lawsuit against a subsidiary of the aerospace giant, Boeing, for its contract with the CIA, alleging the group was used to shuttle detainees to the secret facilities across Europe.
The European Parliament issued a report highlighting more than 1,000 covert flights associated with "extraordinary renditions" had been conducted by the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks.
The human rights report details accounts of the detention of family members of alleged al Qa'ida operatives as well. The report states that two of Khaleed Sheik Mohammed's (KSM) sons, 6 and 8, were detained and interrogated by U.S. officials. International law states that family members be made aware of others detention. KSM, the architect of the 9/11 attacks, has testified he did know his sons had been detained. U.S. officials have also stated they treated the two "with kids gloves", understanding that "they are only little children."
International law outlines the rights of prisoners of war, or other classification of detainees. Detainees are afforded the right to a judicial investigation "as rapidly as circumstances permit and so that his trial shall take place as soon as possible." The language, however, does afford certain flexibilities, stating that prisoners may be detained without judicial proceedings if it is in the national interest of the detaining power to do so. The U.S. could make the argument that certain renditions fall within that classification regarding high profile detainees, such as KSM.
26 American intelligence officers are being tried in absentia in Italy for the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric. The cleric claims he was tortured and remained handcuffed "for 14 months."
Spokesmen for Amnesty International, one of the reports authors, have acknowledged the need to protect citizens from terrorist acts and the rights of nations to guard their national interest, yet it argues that "seizing men, women and even children, and placing people in secret locations deprived of the most basic safeguards for any detainees" remains questionable practice.
BBC UPDATE: CIA jails in E Europe ‘confirmed’
A Council of Europe investigator says he has evidence to prove the CIA ran secret jails in Poland and Romania to interrogate “war on terror” suspects. Dick Marty, a Swiss senator, has been investigating CIA operations on behalf of the European human rights body.
In his new report, released on Friday, Mr Marty says secret CIA prisons “did exist in Europe from 2003 to 2005, in particular in Poland and Romania”.
The governments of both countries have strongly denied any involvement.
References to international law derive from the "Reference to the Geneva Conventions" under the "Important Links" tab on the right.
