CIA resumes use of secret prisons

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The CIA has resumed its use of overseas secret prisons, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

In the last six months, five new terrorism suspects have been transferred to the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. One of the new detainees, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, spent months in CIA custody overseas, Pentagon officials told the Post.

On Sept. 6, 2006, the White House announced the CIA's secret prisons had been emptied for the time being and 14 al-Qaida leaders shipped to Guantanamo. There has been no official statement of what happened to nearly 30 other "ghost prisoners" held by the CIA for extended lengths of time, the Post reported.

Details of the secret prisons remain classified, though it is believed some of the prisoners were transferred secretly to their home countries and remain imprisoned, while other have simply vanished, said human rights groups and lawyers for the detainees.

Most of the ghost prisoners were captured in Pakistan, where they fled after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.