Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States

Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States, in the context of the War on Terrorism, refers to foreign nationals 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 sites, 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.

Ghost detainees

Main article: 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 Corpus 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. Bush 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.

The fourteen "high-value detainees" transferred on September 6, 2006

JTF-GTMO ISN	name	notes
10011	Mustafa al-Hawsawi	believed to have arranged large wire transfers of funds to finance terrorist operations. captured in Pakistan in March 2003, current location unknown President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10012	Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani	helped plan the 1998 embassy bombings. captured July 25, 2004 President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10013	Ramzi bin al-Shibh	believed to be another planner of the 9-11 attacks. shared a Hamburg apartment with Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the 9-11 hijackers. President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10014	Waleed Muhammad bin Attash	said to be tied to both the Cole bombing and 9-11 captured on April 29, 2003 Human Rights Watch reports he is said to have described ties between Iran and al Qaeda during his interrogation President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10015	Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri	believed to be the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing. believed to have organized the Limburg tanker bombing captured in November 2002, current location unknown President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10016	Abu Zubayda	believed to have run a military training camp associated with al Qaeda. believed to have played a role in the 2000 millennium attack plots believed to be one of the architects of 9-11. President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10017	Abu Faraj al-Libi	described as the new number three in al Qaeda, succeeding his mentor Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. captured in Pakistan on May 2, 2005 President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10018	Ali Abdul Aziz Ali	helped transfer funds to the 9-11 hijackers. arrested on April 29, 2003 President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10019	Hambali	captured on August 11, 2003. a planner of the Bali nightclub bombings President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10020	Majid Khan	President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. An accomplice of Uzair Paracha
10021	Mohamad Farik Amin	reported arrested in June 2003. helped scout the sites of terror bombings in Thailand
10022	Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep	President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006.
10023	Gouled Hassan Dourad	Transferred to Guantanamo on September 6, 2006.
10024	Khalid Sheikh Mohammed	1993 played a role in the WTC bombing. 1994 believed to have worked on Operation Bojinka believed to be one of the architects of 9-11. President Bush announced his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 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 detainee).

Other captives reported to have been held in CIA custody

name	notes
Jamil al-Banna	currently detained in Camp Delta told his lawyers he was detained in "the dark prison" in Kabul arrested in Gambia with Bisher al-Rawi claims the CIA offered him $10 million to serve as a mole against Abu Qatada
Muhammed al-Darbi	Captured as a result of extended interrogation techniques used in secret interrogation centres. A Yemeni, captured in August 2002.
Omar al-Faruq	alleged to have been a liaison with Southeast Asian Islamic militants arrested June 5, 2002
Abu Zubair al-Haili	said to have been a former member of Iraq's secret police, the Mukhabarat said to have been a liaison between Iraq and al Qaeda said to have run terrorist training camps said to have plotted to destroy NATO vessels in March 2001.
Abd al-Salam Ali al-Hila	currently detained in Camp Delta told his lawyers he was detained in "the dark prison" in Kabul
Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi
Adil al-Jazeeri	said to have been a liaison between al Qaeda and the Taliban believed to have been involved in transferring funds for terrorist activities. captured on June 17, 2003 transferred to US custody on July 13, 2003 US State department confirmed custody in December 2003, location unknown
Yassir al-Jazeeri
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi	may have been the first detainee to have been subjected to coercive interrogation techniques. reported Iraq had an arsenal of WMD, and provided al Qaeda with WMD training, cited in Powell's UN speech then recanted the WMD claim, after the invasion, and after the USA failed to find any WMD
Bisher al-Rawi	currently detained in Camp Delta told his lawyers he was detained in "the dark prison" in Kabul arrested in Gambia with Jamil al-Banna now claims he was already co-operating with MI5 in their surveillance of Abu Qatada
Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi	al-Sharqawi.is one of the 25 top al Qaeda leadership members. al-Sharqawi.is called "Riyadh the Facilitator," al-Sharqawi.is said to have been captured before April 2002.
Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman	al Qaeda trainer operational planner for 9-11
Musaad Aruchi
Hassin Bin Attash	currently detained in Camp Delta told his lawyers he was detained in "the dark prison" in Kabul claims he was tortured in the black sites only 17 when captured brother of Waleed Muhammad bin Attash
Abdul Aziz
Abu Faisal
Hassan Ghul	accomplice of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi captured in Iraq by Iraqi Kurds in 2004
Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan	al Qaeda's computer expert agreed to be a mole after his capture on July 13, 2004 mole status outed by Condoleezza Rice on August 2, 2004
Tariq Mahmood
Binyam Mohammed	told his lawyers he was detained in "the dark prison" in Kabul claims he was tortured in the black sites On 23 February 2009, almost seven years after his arrest, Mohamed was repatriated from Guantánamo to the UK, where he was released after questioning.
Abd Al-Hamid Al-Suri	Also known as Baha’Bin Mustafa Muhammad Jaghal, Musa Muhamat Julaq Augol, Abd Al-Hamid Al-Sharif, Musa Uglo Identified as a suspected al Qaida member during Abdullah Khan's Administrative Review Board hearing. Captured in Peshawar, Pakistan, in January 2002. Captured with a computer alleged to have 19 English-language manuals on bomb making on it. Wounded feet limit his mobility, was in Peshawar for medical treatment Said to be in his mid twenties.

Legal status of detainees

Main article: illegal combatant

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 Conventions. 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 Convention, 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.

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-Libi, 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."

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 McCain, 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.

U.S. Government denial of allegations of mistreatment

Main article: Periodic Report of the United States of America to the United Nations Committee Against Torture

The United States 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.

Geneva Conventions compliance

On July 20, 2007, President Bush issued an executive order banning torture of POWs by intelligence officials. Amnesty International 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 ratified that portion of the Geneva Convention Protocol I which would grant these persons POW status. The US is one of only 6 countries that haven't.

Location of the suspects held by US Civilian Intelligence agencies

File:Orthographic projection over Diego Garcia.png

Orthographic projection centred over Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

Location	Details
USS Bataan	John Walker Lindh 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.
Diego Garcia	The remote islands of Diego Garcia were cleared of civilians decades ago, to become a UK military base. Some human rights critics have speculated that Diego Garcia was one of the venues where "high value detainees" have been interrogated. The UK government has denied that Diego Garcia is being used as a detention facility.
The Salt Pit	a clandestine, remote, CIA detention facility, in Afghanistan German national Khalid El-Masri, a victim of mistaken identity, who shared the same name as one of a senior al Qaeda cadre who was still at large, was held there for five months, in the winter of 2004.

See also

• Arbitrary arrest and detention
• Command responsibility
• Detainees in Iraq
• Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen erroneously detained by the CIA
• Maher Arar

External links

• Outsourcing torture, The New Yorker, February 14, 2005
• A Tortured Debate, Newsweek, 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 News December 5, 2005
• a list of 12 high-value targets housed by the CIA, ABC News, 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 Spiegel 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)