Bloomberg reports via :

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) — At least 11 al-Qaeda suspects held by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency have disappeared in custody as they are detained at unknown sites without access to the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch said in an e-mailed report.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, suspected of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., is one of 11 “ghost'’ detainees named by the New York-based human rights group. Other detainees who are missing include Abu Zubayda, a Palestinian who was third on the U.S. most-wanted list of al-Qaeda suspects, and Yemen’s Ramzi al-Shibh, also linked to the Sept. 11 attacks.

“There may well be several or many more such detainees,'’ Human Rights Watch said in the report. “The use of forced disappearances and secret incommunicado detention violates the most basic principles of a free society.'’

The International Committee for the Red Cross said in July it hasn’t had access to a “certain number'’ of detainees held around the world as part of the U.S. war on terrorism. The Geneva Conventions on human rights provides the Red Cross with automatic access to prisoners of war.

The 46-page Human Rights Watch report calls on the U.S. to bring all detainees under the “full protection'’ of the law, registering and holding them in recognized places of detention. The group also urged the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to make clear it won’t accept the disappearance of detainees, and to grant prisoners access to the Red Cross.

International Treaties

“International treaties ratified by the United States prohibit incommunicado detention of persons in secret locations,'’ Human Rights Watch said in a statement e-mailed with the report. “Detainees must be held in recognized places of detention and be able to communicate with lawyers and family members.'’

The U.S. has acknowledged in one case it kept an Iraqi prisoner secret. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on June 17 he agreed to a CIA request not to list the suspected terrorist as a prisoner and keep him inaccessible to the International Red Cross, for strategic reasons because the suspect was deemed to be high-ranking.

“There are instances where that occurs,'’ Rumsfeld said at the time. “He wasn’t lost in the system'’ and “he has been treated humanely.'’

Of the detainees mentioned in the report, the U.S. has acknowledged it holds Sheikh Mohammed and Al-Zubayda al-Shibh, according to the 9/11 Commission’s report on the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York. Other detainees named by the commission and listed by Human Rights Watch are Indonesia’s Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, Yemen’s Tawfiq bin Attash, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi.

Also held in unknown places are the Libyan Ibn al-Sheikh al- Libi, the Kuwaiti Omar al-Faruq, the Saudis Abu Zubair al-Haili and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and Adil al-Jazeeri, an Algerian, Human Rights Watch said, adding that the U.S. hasn’t confirmed those detentions.

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To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Peter Torday in London at .

Last Updated: October 11, 2004 20:07 EDT