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<a href="http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/12/usint9463.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/12/usint9463.htm<br><br>
</a>U.S.: Detained al-Qaeda Suspects "Disappeared"<br><br>
(New York, October 12, 2004) - At least 11 al-Qaeda suspects have <br>
"disappeared" in U.S. custody, Human Rights Watch said in a
report<br>
released today. U.S. officials are holding the detainees in
undisclosed<br>
locations, where some have reportedly been tortured.<br><br>
The 46-page report, "The United States' 'Disappeared': The CIA's
Long-<br>
Term 'Ghost Detainees,'" describes how the Central Intelligence
Agency <br>
is holding al-Qaeda suspects in "secret locations," reportedly
outside<br>
the <br>
United States, with no notification to their families, no access to the
<br>
International Committee of the Red Cross or oversight of any sort
of<br>
their <br>
treatment, and in some cases, no acknowledgement that they are even
<br>
being held.<br><br>
"'Disappearances' were a trademark abuse of Latin American military
<br>
dictatorships in their 'dirty war' on alleged subversion," said
Reed<br>
Brody, <br>
special counsel with Human Rights Watch. "Now they have become a
United<br>
States tactic in its conflict with al-Qaeda."<br><br>
Under international law, enforced disappearances occur when persons are
<br>
deprived of their liberty and the detaining authority refuses to<br>
disclose <br>
their fate or whereabouts or refuses to acknowledge their
detention,<br>
which <br>
places the detainees outside the protection of the law.<br><br>
The report profiles 11 such "disappeared" prisoners. They
include Khalid<br><br>
Shaikh Muhammed, the alleged principal architect of the September 11
<br>
attacks; Abu Zubayda, reputedly a close aide of Osama bin Laden; Ramzi
<br>
bin al-Shibh, who but for his failure to get a U.S. visa might have
been<br>
one <br>
of the 9/11 hijackers; and Hambali, an alleged key al-Qaeda ally in<br>
Southeast Asia. Some, such as Khalid Shaikh Muhammed, are reported
to<br>
have been tortured in custody.<br><br>
U.S. officials have said that many of those held have provided valuable
<br>
intelligence that has foiled planned terrorist acts. There are also<br>
reports <br>
that some detainees have lied under duress to please their captors. For
<br>
instance, ghost detainee Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi apparently fabricated
the<br><br>
claim, then relayed by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the
United<br>
Nations, that Iraq had provided training in "poisons and deadly
gases"<br>
for <br>
al-Qaeda.<br><br>
International treaties ratified by the United States prohibit<br>
incommunicado <br>
detention of persons in secret locations. The Geneva
Conventions<br>
require <br>
that the International Committee of the Red Cross have access to
all<br>
detainees and that information on those detained be provided to their
<br>
relatives. Under international human rights law, detainees must be
held<br>
in <br>
recognized places of detention and be able to communicate with lawyers
<br>
and family members.<br><br>
Human Rights Watch called on the United States to bring all detainees,
<br>
wherever they are being held, under the protection of the law. In<br>
particular, it demanded that the government grant unrestricted access
to<br>
the <br>
International Committee of the Red Cross to all detainees held
pursuant<br>
to <br>
anti-terrorist operations.<br><br>
"Those guilty of serious crimes must be brought to justice before
fair <br>
trials," said Brody. "If the United States embraces the torture
and <br>
'disappearance' of its opponents, it abandons its ideals and<br>
international <br>
obligations and becomes a lesser nation."<br><br>
<br><br>
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