Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States
Encyclopedia
Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States, in the context of the War on Terrorism
, refers to foreign national
s the United States
detains outside of the legal process
required within United States legal jurisdiction
. In this context, the U.S. government has been accused of maintaining covert interrogation centers, called black site
s, operated by both known and secret intelligence agencies
. Of these prisoners some are suspected of being from the senior ranks of al Qaeda, referred to in U.S. military terms
as "high value detainees." According to Swiss senator Dick Marty
's reports on "Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees
involving Council of Europe member states", about a hundred persons had been kidnapped by the CIA
on European territory and subsequently rendered
to countries where they may have been tortured.. While former Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld
has described those detained in Camp Delta
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
, as "the worst of the worst," it is now known those with the highest intelligence value are not detained or interrogated in Cuba, and are thought to be held at "black site
" facilities in Eastern Europe
.
rights. Ghost detainees' identities, or indeed capture, have been kept secret. As such they are a subset of extrajudicial prisoners, which also includes all the detainees who were held in Guantanamo, etc.
confirmed, for the first time, that the CIA had held "high-value detainees" in secret interrogation centers. He also announced that fourteen senior captives were being transferred from CIA custody, to military custody, at Guantanamo Bay and that these fourteen captives could now expect to face charges before Guantanamo military commissions. Critics, and elements of the FBI
, had long speculated that the captives held in the secret interrogation centres had been subjected to abusive interrogation techniques, and thus any evidence derived from their interrogations could not be used to prosecute them. Transfer of these fourteen men had emptied the CIA's secret interrogation centers. Critics pointed out that Bush had not announced that the CIA's secret interrogation centers were being closed.
).
. This policy triggered debate both within and outside of the US government. The Bush administration argument in favor of this policy was that the Geneva Conventions the USA signed protected the fighters of only recognized states, and al Qaeda fighters didn't qualify. Further, they argued, the Taliban wasn't a real government either. They characterized Afghanistan as a "failed state," one without a legitimate government.
, however, signed prior to World War II
, does define "lawful combatant." The Convention obliges signatories to afford captured lawful combatants significant rights and protections. Such captives are entitled to be classified as Prisoners of War (POW). Internal critics within the US military and US government argue that failing to afford POW protections to combatants captured in the global war on terror would endanger American soldiers, when they were captured, in current and future conflicts. Other critics argue that classifying all combatants as illegal combatants is in violation of article 5 of the third Geneva Convention, which describes how a captor should treat combatants who are suspected of violating the Geneva Conventions such that they strip themselves of its protections. Article 5 says that combatants suspected of violations of the Conventions are to be afforded POW protection until the captors have convened a "competent tribunal."
The Bush administration has expanded the criteria for classifying captives as illegal combatants. Individuals captured around the world are now classified as such if US intelligence officials believe they have sufficient evidence to tie the individual to terrorism.
There are circumstances when the legislative and judicial branches can overrule the executive branch. In Rasul v. Bush
, the US Supreme Court ruled that detainees in the global war on terror did have the right to mount legal challenges within the US judicial system.
, described as the first senior al Qaeda captive. It was reported that initially his interrogation was being conducted by the FBI because they had the most experience interrogating criminal suspects. Their interrogation approach was based on building rapport with suspects and they did not use coercive techniques. They argued that coercive techniques produced unreliable false confessions and that using coercive techniques would mean that the evidence they gathered could not be used by the prosecution in a trial in the US judicial system.
However, impatience for actionable intelligence led to the handover of responsibility for interrogation to the CIA, who were authorized to use "enhanced interrogation techniques
". In reaction to the release of the abuse pictures from Abu Ghraib
, the CIA suspended the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques
."
Some human rights critics believe that the existence of those memos is tacit acknowledgment that American intelligence officials had already been engaging in coercive interrogation techniques.
, a former POW from the War in Vietnam, attached a passage to a military spending bill that would proscribe inhumane treatment of detainees and restrict US officials to only use the interrogation techniques in the US Army's field manual on interrogation
. Ninety of the one hundred Senators supported this amendment.
On Thursday, October 20, 2005, Vice President
Dick Cheney
proposed a change to McCain. Cheney tried to get McCain to limit the proscription to just military personnel, thus allowing CIA personnel the freedom to use more brutal techniques. McCain declined to accept Cheney's suggestion.
government, through the State Department, makes periodic reports to the United Nations
Committee Against Torture. In October 2005, the report focused on pretrial detention of suspects in the War on Terrorism
, including those held in Guantánamo Bay and Afghanistan
. This particular Periodic Report is significant as the first official response of the U.S. government to allegations that prisoners are mistreated in Guantánamo Bay. The report denies the allegations. However, the report does not address detainees held elsewhere by the CIA. Recently, the Director of the CIA, Michael Hayden has acknowledged that some detainees have been subject to waterboarding as per several OLC (Office of Legal Council) memos. General Hayden states that currently (as of 2/7/08) waterboarding is not part of the authorized interrogation techniques for U.S. agents.
The CIA's Inspector General
began looking into a number of cases where innocent men were captured and transported through "erroneous renditions." There was said to be 3,000 individuals who found themselves in CIA custody.
points out that the Bush administration has a very limited definition of torture. Relevant to understanding this order, note that whilst the US is a signatory, it has failed to ratify that portion of the Geneva Convention, Protocol I
, which would grant these persons POW status. The US is one of only six countries that have not.
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, refers to foreign national
Foreign national
Foreign national is a term used to describe a person who is not a citizen of the host country in which he or she is residing or temporarily sojourning. In Canada, a foreign national is defined as someone who is not a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident of Canada...
s the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
detains outside of the legal process
Legal process
Legal process , are the proceedings in any civil lawsuit or criminal prosecution and, particularly, describes the formal notice or writ used by a court to exercise jurisdiction over a person or property...
required within United States legal jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
. In this context, the U.S. government has been accused of maintaining covert interrogation centers, called black site
Black site
In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It...
s, operated by both known and secret intelligence agencies
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
. Of these prisoners some are suspected of being from the senior ranks of al Qaeda, referred to in U.S. military terms
Terminology
Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
as "high value detainees." According to Swiss senator Dick Marty
Dick Marty
Dick Marty is a Swiss politician and former state prosecutor of the canton of Ticino. He is a member of the Swiss Council of States , and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.-Education:Marty holds a doctorate in law from the University of Neuchâtel with the thesis:...
's reports on "Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees
involving Council of Europe member states", about a hundred persons had been kidnapped by the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
on European territory and subsequently rendered
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
to countries where they may have been tortured.. While former Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
has described those detained in Camp Delta
Camp Delta
Camp Delta is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between February 27 and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root...
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, as "the worst of the worst," it is now known those with the highest intelligence value are not detained or interrogated in Cuba, and are thought to be held at "black site
Black site
In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It...
" facilities in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
Ghost detainees
Ghost detainees are extrajudicial prisoners whose identity hasn't been revealed and whose families don't know their locations. They are thus deprived of any Habeas CorpusHabeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
rights. Ghost detainees' identities, or indeed capture, have been kept secret. As such they are a subset of extrajudicial prisoners, which also includes all the detainees who were held in Guantanamo, etc.
Suspects held by US Civilian Intelligence agencies
High-value detainees
On September 6, 2006, American President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
confirmed, for the first time, that the CIA had held "high-value detainees" in secret interrogation centers. He also announced that fourteen senior captives were being transferred from CIA custody, to military custody, at Guantanamo Bay and that these fourteen captives could now expect to face charges before Guantanamo military commissions. Critics, and elements of the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, had long speculated that the captives held in the secret interrogation centres had been subjected to abusive interrogation techniques, and thus any evidence derived from their interrogations could not be used to prosecute them. Transfer of these fourteen men had emptied the CIA's secret interrogation centers. Critics pointed out that Bush had not announced that the CIA's secret interrogation centers were being closed.
| JTF-GTMO Joint Task Force Guantanamo Joint Task Force Guantanamo is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the island. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command... ISN |
name | notes |
|---|---|---|
| 10011 | Mustafa al-Hawsawi Mustafa al-Hawsawi Mustafa al-Hawsawi is a member of the militant Islamic organization al-Qaeda and allegedly an organizer and financer of the September 11 attacks.... |
|
| 10012 | Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is a conspirator of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization convicted for his role in the bombing of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was indicted in the United States as a participant in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. He was on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list from its... |
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10013 | Ramzi bin al-Shibh |
Hamburg -History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808... apartment with Mohamed Atta Mohamed Atta Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968... , the ringleader of the 9-11 hijackers. Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10014 | Waleed Muhammad bin Attash |
Iran Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia... and al Qaeda during his interrogation Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10015 | Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is a Saudi Arabian citizen alleged to be the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing and other terrorist attacks, he allegedly headed al-Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf states prior to his capture in November 2002 by the CIA's Special Activities Division.The... |
USS Cole bombing The USS Cole Bombing, or the USS Cole Incident, was a suicide attack against the United States Navy destroyer on October 12, 2000 while it was harbored and refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured... . Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10016 | Abu Zubayda |
2000 millennium attack plots The Year 2000 attack plots were terrorist attacks planned to occur on or near January 1, 2000: the bombing of four sites in Jordan, the bombing of Los Angeles International Airport , and the bombing of the USS The Sullivans. The first two plots were foiled by law enforcement agencies; the third was... Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10017 | Abu Faraj al-Libi |
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10018 | Ali Abdul Aziz Ali |
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10019 | Hambali |
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10020 | Majid Khan |
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. Uzair Paracha Uzair Paracha is a Pakistani American convicted of providing material support to al-Qaeda by a court in New York in 2005. He is serving a 30 year prison sentence.-Early life:... |
| 10021 | Mohamad Farik Amin Mohamad Farik Amin Mohamad Farik Amin, alias Zubair alias Zaid, is a Malaysian who is alleged to be a senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah and al Qaeda. He is currently in American custody in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He is one of the 14 detainees who had previously been held for years at CIA black sites... |
|
| 10022 | Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep is a Malaysian affiliate or member of Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda, currently in American custody in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp... |
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. |
| 10023 | Gouled Hassan Dourad Gouled Hassan Dourad Gouled Hassan Dourad , born 1974, is a citizen of Somalia who is currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantánamo Bay detainment camps in Cuba.... |
|
| 10024 | Khalid Sheikh Mohammed |
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq... s in September 2006. |
Other captives in custody
American intelligence officials have made public the names of some of the suspects the CIA has reported to have been held. The capture of other detainees is not acknowledged. According to the US military this is in order to spread disorder among their opponents. It also has the effect of keeping critics of the extrajudicial detention in the dark as to the circumstances of detention and conditions in the prisons (see ghost detaineeGhost detainee
Ghost detainee is an official term used by the U.S. Government to designate a person held in a detention center, whose identity has been hidden by keeping them unregistered and therefore anonymous. It was also used in the same manner by the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center at the Abu...
).
| name | notes |
| Jamil al-Banna Jamil al-Banna Jamil el-Banna is a Jordanian with refugee status in the United Kingdom who had been living in north-west London. He is currently on bailed release in the United Kingdom following his release from extrajudicial detention in the United States in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The ... |
|
| Muhammed al-Darbi Muhammed al-Darbi Muhammed al-Darbi is a Yemeni held in extrajudicial detention by the CIA, in one of their black sites.According to the Washington Post al-Darbi was captured as a result of extended interrogation techniques used in secret interrogation centres.... |
Yemen The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east.... i, captured in August 2002. |
| Omar al-Faruq Omar al-Faruq Omar al-Faruq was a Kuwaiti of Iraqi descent, and a senior al-Qaeda member. He was a liaison between al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorists in the Far East, particularly Jemaah Islamiyah. He was captured in Bogor, Indonesia in 2002 by an Indonesian security agent who handed him over to the United States... |
|
| Abd al-Salam Ali al-Hila |
Camp Delta Camp Delta is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between February 27 and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root... The Dark Prison The dark prison is the informal name used by some Guantanamo Bay detainees for a secret prison they claim they were detained in near Kabul, Afghanistan... " in Kabul Kabul Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan... |
| Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi | |
| Adil al-Jazeeri Adil al-Jazeeri Following the interrogation of Abu Naseem, Adil al-Jazeeri was arrested in Hayatabad on June 17, 2003 by Pakistani forces who turned him over to the American CIA.... |
|
| Yassir al-Jazeeri | |
| Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was a Libyan paramilitary trainer for Al-Qaeda. After being captured and interrogated by the American and Egyptian forces, the information he gave under torture by Egyptian authorities was cited by the George W. Bush Administration in the months preceding the 2003 invasion of... |
|
| Bisher al-Rawi |
Camp Delta Camp Delta is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between February 27 and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root... The Dark Prison The dark prison is the informal name used by some Guantanamo Bay detainees for a secret prison they claim they were detained in near Kabul, Afghanistan... " in Kabul Kabul Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan... Jamil al-Banna Jamil el-Banna is a Jordanian with refugee status in the United Kingdom who had been living in north-west London. He is currently on bailed release in the United Kingdom following his release from extrajudicial detention in the United States in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The ... MI5 The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence... in their surveillance of Abu Qatada Abu Qatada Abû-Qatâda al-Filisṭînî , sometimes called Abû-Omar is an Islamist militant. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman , he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda... |
| Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi |
|
| Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman is an Egyptian who is believed to be in United States custody in one of the CIA's "black sites". Also known as "Asadullah"... |
|
| Musaad Aruchi Musaad Aruchi Musaad Aruchi was a Pakistani courier who worked in connection with al Qaeda, before his capture in April 2004. Some of his files, secured when he was captured, led to the capture of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who was later released without charge.... |
|
| Hassin Bin Attash |
Camp Delta Camp Delta is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between February 27 and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root... The Dark Prison The dark prison is the informal name used by some Guantanamo Bay detainees for a secret prison they claim they were detained in near Kabul, Afghanistan... " in Kabul Kabul Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan... Black site In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It... s |
| Abdul Aziz | |
| Abu Faisal | |
| Hassan Ghul Hassan Ghul Allegedly an al-Qaeda agent, Hassan Ghul has also been identified as a member of Ansar al-Islam. His nationality has been reported as Yemeni, Pakistani or Egyptian.... |
|
| Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan |
Mole (espionage) A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access... after his capture on July 13, 2004 Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush... on August 2, 2004 |
| Tariq Mahmood | |
| Binyam Mohammed |
The Dark Prison The dark prison is the informal name used by some Guantanamo Bay detainees for a secret prison they claim they were detained in near Kabul, Afghanistan... " in Kabul Kabul Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan... Black site In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It... s |
Legal status of detainees
Shortly after the Invasion of Afghanistan the Bush administration announced a policy that combatants captured "on the battlefield" in Afghanistan would not be afforded the protections of POW status as described in the Geneva ConventionsGeneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
. This policy triggered debate both within and outside of the US government. The Bush administration argument in favor of this policy was that the Geneva Conventions the USA signed protected the fighters of only recognized states, and al Qaeda fighters didn't qualify. Further, they argued, the Taliban wasn't a real government either. They characterized Afghanistan as a "failed state," one without a legitimate government.
Classifying captives as illegal combatants
The Bush administration calls these captives "illegal combatants" or "unlawful combatants." These terms are not explicitly used in the Geneva Conventions. The third Geneva ConventionThird Geneva Convention
The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was first adopted in 1929, but was significantly updated in 1949...
, however, signed prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, does define "lawful combatant." The Convention obliges signatories to afford captured lawful combatants significant rights and protections. Such captives are entitled to be classified as Prisoners of War (POW). Internal critics within the US military and US government argue that failing to afford POW protections to combatants captured in the global war on terror would endanger American soldiers, when they were captured, in current and future conflicts. Other critics argue that classifying all combatants as illegal combatants is in violation of article 5 of the third Geneva Convention, which describes how a captor should treat combatants who are suspected of violating the Geneva Conventions such that they strip themselves of its protections. Article 5 says that combatants suspected of violations of the Conventions are to be afforded POW protection until the captors have convened a "competent tribunal."
The Bush administration has expanded the criteria for classifying captives as illegal combatants. Individuals captured around the world are now classified as such if US intelligence officials believe they have sufficient evidence to tie the individual to terrorism.
There are circumstances when the legislative and judicial branches can overrule the executive branch. In Rasul v. Bush
Rasul v. Bush
Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision establishing that the U.S. court system has the authority to decide whether foreign nationals held in Guantanamo Bay were wrongfully imprisoned...
, the US Supreme Court ruled that detainees in the global war on terror did have the right to mount legal challenges within the US judicial system.
Use of interrogation techniques
There have been vigorous debates within the US intelligence community over what techniques should be used on the detainees. The debate was triggered over the interrogation of Ibn al-Shaykh al-LibiIbn al-Shaykh al-Libi
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was a Libyan paramilitary trainer for Al-Qaeda. After being captured and interrogated by the American and Egyptian forces, the information he gave under torture by Egyptian authorities was cited by the George W. Bush Administration in the months preceding the 2003 invasion of...
, described as the first senior al Qaeda captive. It was reported that initially his interrogation was being conducted by the FBI because they had the most experience interrogating criminal suspects. Their interrogation approach was based on building rapport with suspects and they did not use coercive techniques. They argued that coercive techniques produced unreliable false confessions and that using coercive techniques would mean that the evidence they gathered could not be used by the prosecution in a trial in the US judicial system.
However, impatience for actionable intelligence led to the handover of responsibility for interrogation to the CIA, who were authorized to use "enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques or alternative set of procedures are terms adopted by the George W. Bush administration in the United States to describe certain severe interrogation methods, often described as torture...
". In reaction to the release of the abuse pictures from Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib
The city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
, the CIA suspended the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques or alternative set of procedures are terms adopted by the George W. Bush administration in the United States to describe certain severe interrogation methods, often described as torture...
."
Legal justification for the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques"
Secretary Rumsfeld assured the world that the detainees held in Guantánamo Bay were going to be treated in a manner consistent with the treatment of Geneva Convention POWs. In 2004, confidential memos surfaced that discussed the limits to how much pain, discomfort and fear could be used in the interrogation of detainees in the global war on terror. The memos showed that there was active debate within the Bush administration.Some human rights critics believe that the existence of those memos is tacit acknowledgment that American intelligence officials had already been engaging in coercive interrogation techniques.
Legislative challenges to interrogation policy
US Senator John McCainJohn McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, a former POW from the War in Vietnam, attached a passage to a military spending bill that would proscribe inhumane treatment of detainees and restrict US officials to only use the interrogation techniques in the US Army's field manual on interrogation
FM 34-52 Intelligence Interrogation
The US Army Field Manual on Interrogation, sometimes known by the military nomenclature FM 34-52, is a 177-page manual describing to military interrogators how to conduct effective interrogations while conforming with US and international law...
. Ninety of the one hundred Senators supported this amendment.
On Thursday, October 20, 2005, Vice President
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
proposed a change to McCain. Cheney tried to get McCain to limit the proscription to just military personnel, thus allowing CIA personnel the freedom to use more brutal techniques. McCain declined to accept Cheney's suggestion.
U.S. Government denial of allegations of mistreatment
The United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government, through the State Department, makes periodic reports to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Committee Against Torture. In October 2005, the report focused on pretrial detention of suspects in the War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, including those held in Guantánamo Bay and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. This particular Periodic Report is significant as the first official response of the U.S. government to allegations that prisoners are mistreated in Guantánamo Bay. The report denies the allegations. However, the report does not address detainees held elsewhere by the CIA. Recently, the Director of the CIA, Michael Hayden has acknowledged that some detainees have been subject to waterboarding as per several OLC (Office of Legal Council) memos. General Hayden states that currently (as of 2/7/08) waterboarding is not part of the authorized interrogation techniques for U.S. agents.
The CIA's Inspector General
Inspector General
An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...
began looking into a number of cases where innocent men were captured and transported through "erroneous renditions." There was said to be 3,000 individuals who found themselves in CIA custody.
Geneva Conventions compliance
On July 20, 2007, President Bush issued an executive order banning torture of POWs by intelligence officials. Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
points out that the Bush administration has a very limited definition of torture. Relevant to understanding this order, note that whilst the US is a signatory, it has failed to ratify that portion of the Geneva Convention, Protocol I
Protocol I
Protocol I is a 1977 amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts. It reaffirms the international laws of the original Geneva Conventions of 1949, but adds clarifications and new provisions to accommodate developments in modern...
, which would grant these persons POW status. The US is one of only six countries that have not.
Location of the suspects held by US Civilian Intelligence agencies
| Location | Details |
|---|---|
| USS Bataan USS Bataan (LHD-5) USS Bataan is a commissioned in 1997. She is named to honor the defense of the Bataan Peninsula on the western side of Manila Bay in the Philippines during the early days of US involvement in World War II.-Christening:... |
John Walker Lindh John Walker Lindh John Phillip Walker Lindh is a United States citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army... was held, for two months, in a secure facility aboard the USS Bataan. Human rights critics believe he was merely one of half a dozen high value detainees held there. |
| The Salt Pit |
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See also
- Arbitrary arrest and detentionArbitrary arrest and detentionArbitrary arrest and arbitrary detention are the arrest or detention of an individual in a case in which there is no likelihood or evidence that they committed a crime against legal statute, or in which there has been no proper due process of law...
- Command responsibilityCommand responsibilityCommand responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, and also known as superior responsibility, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....
- Detainees in IraqDetainees in IraqAs of December 2007 there are some 50,000 detainees in Iraq, many of them untried and not accused of any crime.Iraqi authorities hold 24,000 detainees and the USA 26,000...
- Khalid El-MasriKhalid El-MasriKhalid El-Masri is a German citizen who was kidnapped in the Republic of Macedonia, flown to Afghanistan, allegedly beaten, stripped, raped, and interrogated and tortured by the CIA for several months as a part of the War on Terror, and then released...
, a German citizen erroneously detained by the CIA - Maher ArarMaher ArarMaher Arar is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who resides in Canada. Arar's story is frequently referred to as "extraordinary rendition" but the U.S. government insisted it was a case of deportation.Arar was detained during a layover at John F...
External links
- Outsourcing torture, The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, February 14, 2005 - A Tortured Debate, NewsweekNewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, June 21, 2005 - We Don't Want a Hanoi Hilton, Washington Post, October 27, 2005
- CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons, Washington Post, November 2, 2005
- European Commission to Investigate Reports of Secret CIA Jails, Washington Post, November 3, 2005
- Sources Tell ABC News Top Al Qaeda Figures Held in Secret CIA Prisons, ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
December 5, 2005 - a list of 12 high-value targets housed by the CIA, ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, December 5, 2005 - CIA 'closes terror prisons', news.com.au, December 6, 2005
- Victims Could Sue for Human Rights in European Court of Justice, Der SpiegelDer SpiegelDer Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
December 6, 2005 - The Center for Constitutional Rights acts against use of evidence obtained by torture and other injustices
- Human Rights First; Tortured Justice: Using Coerced Evidence to Prosecute Terrorist Suspects (2008)
- Human Rights First: In Pursuit of Justice; Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts (2009)
- Human Rights First; Undue Process: An Examination of Detention and Trials of Bagram Detainees in Afghanistan in April 2009 (2009)