HRW releases missing prisoners report

NEW YORK, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. government should account for missing detainees held by the CIA in the war on terror, a new report said.

The 50-page report, "Ghost Prisoner: Two Years in Secret CIA Detention," was released Monday by Human Rights Watch. HRW said in a statement that the report "contains a detailed description of a secret CIA prison from a Palestinian former detainee who was released from custody last year."

"President Bush told us that the last 14 CIA prisoners were sent to Guantanamo, but there are many other prisoners 'disappeared' by the CIA whose fate is still unknown," said Joanne Mariner, terrorism and counter-terrorism director at Human Rights Watch. "The question is: What happened to these people and where are they now?"

HRW noted that in September 2006, 14 detainees were moved from secret CIA jails to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On Sept. 6, U.S. President George W. Bush said that following that move, there were no more captives in secret CIA installations.

However, HRW said it had two lists of former detainees who were still missing and that it had sent their names to the U.S. president.

"The first list names 16 people whom Human Rights Watch believes were held in CIA prisons and whose current whereabouts are unknown. The second list names 22 people who may have been held in CIA prisons and whose current whereabouts are unknown," HRW said.

"The Bush administration needs to provide a full accounting of everyone who was 'disappeared' into CIA prisons, including their names, locations, and when they left U.S. custody," Mariner said.

HRW said some of the missing detainees may have been "transferred from CIA custody to places where they may face torture. A serious concern is that some of the missing prisoners might have been returned to their countries of origin, which include Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Syria, where the torture of terrorism suspects is common."