Ghost detainee
Encyclopedia
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 (JIDC) at the Abu Ghraib prison
. According to Swiss
senator Dick Marty
's memorandum on "alleged detention in Council of Europe states", about one hundred persons have been captured by the CIA on European territory and subsequently rendered
to countries where they may have been torture
d. This number of one hundred extraordinarily rendered
persons is in addition to the hundred U.S. ghost detainees.
One example is the case of Khalid El-Masri
, a German citizen abducted by the CIA in Macedonia
in January 2004 and taken to a secret CIA site in Afghanistan
known as the Salt Pit
for severe treatment and interrogation before being determined innocent in March and eventually released in May 2004 after some additional delays. His abduction was apparently a case of mistaken identity. Germany
initially claimed that it did not know of el-Masri's abduction until his return to the country in May 2004. However, the BND
(German intelligence agency) declared on June 1, 2006 that it had known of El-Masri's seizure 16 months before Germany was officially informed of his arrest.
In a 2007 report, Human Rights Watch
related the claims of alleged ghost detainee Marwan Jabour, a Palestinian who was arrested in Lahore, Pakistan, in May 2004. Jabour claimed he was held for more than a month in a secret detention facility operated by both Pakistanis and Americans in Islamabad, and then flown to a CIA prison in Afghanistan, where he was held in secret, incommunicado detention for more than two years. During his ordeal, he was tortured, beaten, forced to stay awake for days, and kept naked and chained to a wall for more than a month.
At least 39 detainees who were once held by the CIA in secret detention remain disappeared, according to a report jointly published June 7, 2007 by six leading human rights groups, including Amnesty International
, the Center for Constitutional Rights
, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and Human Rights Watch
. :
with little or no due process
.
The Army and the Defense Department have acknowledged that the United States has used ghosting in the past, but have said it was limited to isolated incidents. According to documents obtained by the Post, "unregistered CIA detainees were brought to Abu Ghraib several times a week in late 2003."
The Post cited as evidence a report
by Major General
Antonio Taguba
:
When news of a detainee known only as Triple X
became known to the public in late 2003, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
was questioned about him. Rumsfeld was evasive, and speculated about why someone would want to keep a prisoner hidden from the Red Cross, which is considered a war crime
under international law.
On September 9, 2004, General Paul J. Kern
testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, stating that an inquiry he led found that the Army had cooperated with the CIA in hiding dozens of ghost detainees from the Red Cross.
Kern told the Committee there may have been as many as 100 ghost detainees.
and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as improper and illegal because it prevents these prisoners from having contact with inspectors and human rights
advocates, while the families of the victims are confronted with the fact of a "forced disappearance
". One report by Amnesty International indicates that over one hundred ghost detainees may currently be being held in U.S.-operated black site
s.
According to U.S. official sources there could be over 100 ghost detainees held by the U.S. In 2004, thousands of people were held by the U.S. in Iraq, hundreds in Afghanistan and undisclosed numbers in undisclosed locations. AI (Amnesty International) is calling on the U.S. government to "close Guantanamo and disclose the rest." What we mean by this is: either release the prisoners or charge and prosecute them with due process."
Abu Ghraib prison
The Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s....
. According to Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
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 memorandum on "alleged detention in Council of Europe states", about one hundred persons have been captured by the CIA 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 torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d. This number of one hundred extraordinarily 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...
persons is in addition to the hundred U.S. ghost detainees.
Secret CIA prisons (aka Black Sites)
According to CIA chief Michael Hayden, the CIA has detained up to 100 people at secret facilities abroad since the capture of suspected Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah in 2002.One example is the case of Khalid El-Masri
Khalid El-Masri
Khalid 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 abducted by the CIA in Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
in January 2004 and taken to a secret CIA site in 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...
known as the Salt Pit
Salt Pit
The Salt Pit is the codename of an isolated clandestine CIA black site prison, and interrogation centre in Afghanistan. It is located north of Kabul and functioned as a brick factory prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan...
for severe treatment and interrogation before being determined innocent in March and eventually released in May 2004 after some additional delays. His abduction was apparently a case of mistaken identity. Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
initially claimed that it did not know of el-Masri's abduction until his return to the country in May 2004. However, the BND
Bundesnachrichtendienst
The Bundesnachrichtendienst [ˌbʊndəsˈnaːχʁɪçtnˌdiːnst] is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinated to the Chancellor's Office. Its headquarters are in Pullach near Munich, and Berlin . The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign countries...
(German intelligence agency) declared on June 1, 2006 that it had known of El-Masri's seizure 16 months before Germany was officially informed of his arrest.
In a 2007 report, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
related the claims of alleged ghost detainee Marwan Jabour, a Palestinian who was arrested in Lahore, Pakistan, in May 2004. Jabour claimed he was held for more than a month in a secret detention facility operated by both Pakistanis and Americans in Islamabad, and then flown to a CIA prison in Afghanistan, where he was held in secret, incommunicado detention for more than two years. During his ordeal, he was tortured, beaten, forced to stay awake for days, and kept naked and chained to a wall for more than a month.
At least 39 detainees who were once held by the CIA in secret detention remain disappeared, according to a report jointly published June 7, 2007 by six leading human rights groups, including Amnesty International
Amnesty 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...
, the Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
. :
It reveals the extent to which the United States has illegally used “proxy detention” to empty its secret sites and demonstrates that far from targeting the “worst of the worst,” the system sweeps up low-level detainees and even involves the detention of the wives and children of the “disappeared,” in violation of their human rights. Off the Record also documents allegations concerning the treatment of detainees while in secret detention, including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Abu Ghraib's "ghost detainees"
The practice of ghosting first achieved widespread attention in 2004 when the Washington Post broke a story suggesting that the U.S. Army and the CIA were detaining "unlawful enemy combatants" at the Abu Ghraib prison in IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
with little or no due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
.
The Army and the Defense Department have acknowledged that the United States has used ghosting in the past, but have said it was limited to isolated incidents. According to documents obtained by the Post, "unregistered CIA detainees were brought to Abu Ghraib several times a week in late 2003."
The Post cited as evidence a report
Taguba Report
The Taguba Report is the common name of an official Army Regulation 15-6 military inquiry conducted in 2004 into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse.-Initiation:...
by Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Antonio Taguba
Antonio Taguba
Antonio Mario Taguba , is a retired major general in the United States Army. He was the second American citizen of Philippine birth to be promoted to general officer rank in the Army....
:
... in a report describing abuses of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, [he] blamed the 800th Military Police Brigade, which guarded the prison, for allowing 'other government agencies' — a euphemism that includes the CIA — to hide 'ghost' detainees at Abu Ghraib. The practice, he wrote, 'was deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law'.
When news of a detainee known only as Triple X
Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul
Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul, nicknamed Triple-X by his American guards, was the first ghost detainee to be publicly acknowledged by American authorities....
became known to the public in late 2003, U.S. Secretary of Defense 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...
was questioned about him. Rumsfeld was evasive, and speculated about why someone would want to keep a prisoner hidden from the Red Cross, which is considered a war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
under international law.
On September 9, 2004, General Paul J. Kern
Paul J. Kern
General Paul John Kern became President and Chief Operating Officer of AM General LLC on August 1, 2008. His unique career blends technical expertise, combat operations, program management, policy development, and advisory roles to senior political leaders.Kern held numerous leadership positions...
testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, stating that an inquiry he led found that the Army had cooperated with the CIA in hiding dozens of ghost detainees from the Red Cross.
Kern told the Committee there may have been as many as 100 ghost detainees.
Criticism
The practice has been criticized by 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...
and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as improper and illegal because it prevents these prisoners from having contact with inspectors and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
advocates, while the families of the victims are confronted with the fact of a "forced disappearance
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
". One report by Amnesty International indicates that over one hundred ghost detainees may currently be being held in U.S.-operated 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.
According to U.S. official sources there could be over 100 ghost detainees held by the U.S. In 2004, thousands of people were held by the U.S. in Iraq, hundreds in Afghanistan and undisclosed numbers in undisclosed locations. AI (Amnesty International) is calling on the U.S. government to "close Guantanamo and disclose the rest." What we mean by this is: either release the prisoners or charge and prosecute them with due process."
See also
- Black jailsBlack jailsBlack jails are a network of extralegal detention centers established by Chinese security forces across the People's Republic of China in recent years. They are used mainly to detain, without trial, petitioners , who travel to seek redress for grievances unresolved at the local level...
(China) - Nacht und NebelNacht und NebelNacht und Nebel was a directive of Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 signed and implemented by Armed Forces High Command Chief Wilhelm Keitel, resulting in the kidnapping and forced disappearance of many political activists and resistance 'helpers' throughout Nazi Germany's occupied...
(Nazi Germany) - Black siteBlack siteIn 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 - 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....
- "Enemy combatantEnemy combatantEnemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
s", a legal status recognized under the Geneva ConventionsGeneva ConventionsThe 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...
- concerning prisoners of war and civilianCivilianA civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
s - Forced disappearanceForced disappearanceIn international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
s - Extraordinary renditionExtraordinary renditionExtraordinary 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...
External links
- UN Secret Detention Report Asks, “Where Are The CIA Ghost Prisoners?” Andy Worthington, January 29, 2010
- Human Rights First; Behind the Wire: An Update to Ending Secret Detentions (2005)