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84-751: For example, Dick Marty was appointed rapporteur by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to investigate extraordinary rendition by the CIA . The rapporteur is an eminent role in the legislative process of the European Parliament (EP). They are a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) responsible for handling a legislative proposal – both procedurally and with regard to its substance – on behalf of

168-542: A New York Times article claimed, citing unnamed CIA officers, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was held in a secret facility in Poland near Szymany Airport , about 160 km (100 mi) north of Warsaw and it was there where he was interrogated and the waterboarding was applied. It is claimed that waterboarding was used about 100 times over a period of two weeks before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed began to cooperate. In September 2008, two anonymous Polish intelligence officers made

252-576: A "senior American official" source that the isle was indeed used by the U.S. as a secret prison for "war on terror" detainees. In 2015, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell 's former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson , elaborated saying Diego Garcia was used by the CIA for "nefarious activities". He said that he had heard from three U.S. intelligence sources that Diego Garcia was used as "a transit site where people were temporarily housed, let us say, and interrogated from time to time" and that "What I heard

336-732: A Polish investigation into the matter, according to the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. In November 2009, reports alleged a black site referred to in The Washington Post ' s 2005 article had been located in Lithuania . A former riding school in Antaviliai , a village some 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Vilnius , was said to have been converted into a jail by the CIA in 2004. The allegations resulted in

420-643: A U.S. Marine camp in Djibouti , and to prevent a planned attack on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi , and to foil a plot to hijack passenger planes and to fly them into Heathrow Airport and London's Canary Wharf ." On July 20, 2007, Bush made an executive order banning torture of captives by intelligence officials. The list of those thought to be held by the CIA included suspected al-Qaeda members Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , Riduan Isamuddin , Ramzi bin al-Shibh , and Abu Zubaydah . The total number of ghost detainees

504-452: A Washington Post-article by Dana Priest , which says that GST includes programs for capturing suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists, transporting them with aircraft, maintaining secret prisons in various foreign countries, and for the use of special interrogation methods which are held illegal by many lawyers. In 2009, the GST abbreviation was accidentally confirmed in a declassified document written by

588-467: A black site. The Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base has also been identified as a possible location for a CIA detention facility. The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) alleges that at least eight Thai senior officials knew of the secret site, but that some members of the Thai government had resisted the CIA and nearly forced the facility to close. In 2005, following revelations about

672-784: A file submitted in September 2015 to the European Court of Human Rights, a lawyer for a Saudi-born Guantanamo detainee said the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture released in December 2014 leaves "no plausible room for doubt" that Lithuania was somehow involved in the Central Intelligence Agency programme. In January 2022, it was reported in a Washington Post article that a former black site has been put up for sale by

756-436: A five-year investigation, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee published a summary report in 2014 concluding that the CIA had routinely conducted "brutal" and ineffective interrogations of detainees at its black sites and repeatedly misled federal officials and the public about their existence and activities; the CIA responded acknowledging "failings" in the program but denying any intentional misrepresentations. In 2014,

840-465: A floor. During this period, there were several incidents of torture and prisoner abuse , though they were related to non-secret prisoners, and not the CIA-operated portion of the prison. At some point prior to 2005, the prison was again relocated, this time to an unknown site. Metal containers at Bagram Air Base were reported to be black sites. Some Guantanamo Bay detainees report being tortured in

924-738: A former military airport. Both Prime Minister Leszek Miller and President Aleksander Kwasniewski knew about the base, the newspaper reported. However, the officer said it was unlikely either man knew if the prisoners were being tortured because the Poles had no control over the Americans' activities. On January 23, 2009, The Guardian reported that the CIA had run black sites at Szymany Airport in Poland, Camp Eagle in Bosnia and Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo . The United States has refused to cooperate with

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1008-479: A ghostly female detainee, who kept prisoners awake "with her haunting sobs and piercing screams". In 2005 male prisoners were so agitated by her plight, Ridley said, that they went on hunger strike for six days. Siddiqui's family maintains that she was abused at Bagram. The trial began in January 2010 and lasted 14 days, with the jury deliberating for three days before reaching a verdict. On February 3, 2010, she

1092-643: A large facility in the Ariana Chowk neighborhood of Kabul and a detention and interrogation facility at the Bagram airbase . In the February 26 – March 4, 2005, edition of Ireland's Village magazine, an article titled "Abductions via Shannon" claimed that Dublin and Shannon airports in Ireland were "used by the CIA to abduct suspects in its 'war on terror'". The article went on to state that

1176-463: A longtime CIA analyst, was fired for allegedly leaking classified information to a Washington Post reporter, Dana Priest , who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her revelations concerning the CIA's black sites. Some have speculated that the information allegedly leaked may have included information about the camps. McCarthy's lawyer, however, claimed that McCarthy "did not have access to

1260-512: A parliamentary inquiry, and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė stated that she had "indirect suspicions" about a black site in her country. On December 22, 2009, the parliamentary commission finished its investigation and stated they found no proof that a black site had existed in Lithuania. Valdas Adamkus, a former president of Lithuania, said he is certain that no alleged terrorists were ever detained on Lithuanian territory. However, in

1344-770: A prison they called " the dark prison ", also near Kabul. Also in Afghanistan, Jalalabad and Asadabad have been reported as suspected sites. In Iraq , Abu Ghraib was disclosed as a black site, and in 2004 was the center of an extensive prisoner abuse scandal . Additionally, Camp Bucca (near Umm Qasr ) and Camp Cropper (near the Baghdad International Airport ) were reported. The UAE runs secret prisons in Yemen where prisoners are forcibly disappeared and tortured. A Geneva-based human rights group, SAM for Rights and Liberties called on

1428-613: A remit to investigate doping in the sport during the 1990s and 2000s. In 1989, Marty was elected a member of the cantonal executive in Ticino, where he was director of the finance department, and in 1992 additionally held the office of president, which rotates among the members. In the Council of States , Marty was a member of key commissions, including the Finance Commission and Economy and Taxes Commission. In 1998 Marty

1512-494: A second report a year later on 8 June 2007, named Secret Detentions and Illegal Transfers of Detainees Involving Council of Europe Member States: Second Report . This went further, revealing evidence that torture had taken place at secret CIA prisons located in Poland and Romania, prompting furious denials from both countries at the time, and provoking a global media storm. However, in an unfolding process of slowly accumulating evidence, drip-by-drip revelation and gradual admission on

1596-501: A site in Romania, but was not aware of the nature of the site, describing it as a small gesture of goodwill to an ally in advance of Romania's eventual accession to NATO. Iliescu further stated that had he known of the intended use of the site, he would certainly not have approved the request. In an interview given to AP , former presidential security adviser Ioan Talpeș further confirmed that confidential arrangements existed which gave

1680-665: Is estimated that the U.S. has also used 17 ships as floating prisons since 2001, bringing the total estimated number of prisons operated by the U.S. and/or its allies to house terrorist suspects since 2001 to more than 100. Fifty-four countries have been identified as having captured, held, questioned, tortured and/or helped transport CIA detainees, including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Libya, Lithuania, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Somalia, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zambia. The first CIA black site in

1764-512: Is little or no stated legal authority for the operation of black sites by the United States or the other countries believed to be involved. In fact, the specifics of the network of black sites remains controversial. The United Nations has begun to intervene in this aspect of black sites. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the report "added absolutely nothing new whatever to the information we have". Poland and Romania received

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1848-466: Is presumed to be at least one hundred, although the precise number cannot be determined because fewer than 10% have been charged or convicted. However, Swiss senator Dick Marty 's memorandum on "alleged detention in Council of Europe states" stated that about 100 persons have been kidnapped by the CIA on European territory and subsequently rendered to countries where they may have been tortured. This number of 100 persons does not overlap, but adds itself to

1932-604: Is the former secret codeword of a Sensitive Compartmented Information compartment containing information about rendition, interrogation and counter-terrorism programs of the CIA , operations that began shortly after the September 11 Attacks . It covers covert actions in the Middle East that include pre-military operations in Afghanistan and drone attacks. The abbreviation GST was first revealed in December 2005, in

2016-552: The Bush Administration never disclosed specific details regarding their location, conditions, and activities. On February 14, 2007, the European Parliament adopted a report finding that several EU member states had cooperated with the CIA's extraordinary rendition program and implicating Poland and Romania in hosting secret CIA-run detention centers . In January 2009, amid growing domestic and international criticism, U.S. President Barack Obama formally ended

2100-533: The Council of Europe endorsed the report and called for a full and serious investigation into its contents. Since the issuance of the report, however, senior sources in the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and many members of the European Parliament have expressed serious doubts regarding the report and its foundations, believing Marty failed to provide "any evidence" concerning

2184-617: The European Commission , the Council of the European Union or the EP. Based on the relevant proposal, the rapporteur is appointed by the relevant Committees of the European Parliament charged with drawing up a legislative recommendation for the EP to vote on. The rapporteur , therefore, has a substantial influence in the process leading to the adoption of EU-legislation. Their key functions are: Political groups within

2268-516: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was the first judicial body in the world to confirm the existence of CIA black sites, finding that Poland had allowed the CIA to detain and torture two suspects on domestic soil. Later that year, the Polish government admitted that it had hosted black sites, and subsequent reports determined that the country was arguably the most important component of

2352-553: The Onyx Swiss interception system , from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to its London embassy, stated that 23 prisoners were clandestinely interrogated by the U.S. at the base. In 2007, it was disclosed by Dick Marty (investigator) that the CIA allegedly had secret prisons in Poland and Romania. On April 22, 2015, Ion Iliescu , former president of Romania , confirmed that he had granted a CIA request for

2436-914: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe . Marty was born in Sorengo . He held a doctorate in law from the University of Neuchâtel . His thesis was entitled, The Role and the Power of the Swiss Judge in the Application of Penal Sanctions ( French : Le Rôle et les pouvoirs du juge suisse dans l'application des sanctions pénales ). From 1972 to 1975, Marty worked at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg , Germany , responsible for

2520-726: The United States Supreme Court declined without comment to hear an appeal of El-Masri's civil lawsuit against the United States ( El-Masri v. Tenet ), letting stand an earlier verdict by a federal district court judge, which was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit . Those courts had agreed with the government that the case could not go forward without exposing state secrets . The CIA abducted Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (also known as Abu Omar) in Milan and transferred him to Egypt, where he

2604-417: The president of Poland between 1995 and 2005, Alexander Kwasniewski , admitted that he had agreed to host a secret CIA black site in Poland, but that activities were to be carried out in accordance to Polish law. He said that a U.S. draft memorandum had stated that "people held in Poland are to be treated as prisoners of war and will be afforded all the rights they are entitled to", but due to time constraints

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2688-508: The "rendition" of terror suspects for possible torture, or for secret detention, had taken place in any of the Council of Europe's 47 member states. Such activities would be a violation of European human rights standards. In June 2006 Marty released his report on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly, concluding that evidence showed that fourteen European states had assisted in the perpetration of such abuses. Marty published

2772-499: The American daily newspaper The Washington Post was the first major publication to reveal a "hidden global internment network" operated by the CIA in cooperation with several foreign governments. The following year, U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged that there had been CIA program that utilized secret prisons but claimed that detainees were not mistreated or tortured. Though the black sites had effectively ended in 2006,

2856-524: The Assembly's Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee on the topic of euthanasia . His report and draft resolution, published in September 2003, called on Council of Europe members to collect empirical data on assisted dying, to promote debate and analysis of the evidence, and to consider whether legislation should be brought forward to exempt doctors from prosecution for assisting suicide under certain strict conditions. His stance proved controversial and

2940-644: The British member Kevin McNamara , a conservative Catholic, who criticised several of Marty's findings and conclusions and sought to replace the call for governments to consider legislation to legalise assisted dying with a resolution to "report back to the Parliamentary Assembly for further consideration". McNamara's amendments were criticised in turn by organisations such as the World Federation of Right to Die Societies. Keown's criticism of Marty's report

3024-494: The CIA for several months, and then released in remote Albania in May 2004 without having been charged with any offense. This was apparently due to a misunderstanding that arose concerning the similarity of the spelling of El-Masri's name with the spelling of suspected terrorist Khalid al-Masri . Germany had issued warrants for 13 people suspected to be involved with the abduction but dropped them in September 2007. On October 9, 2007,

3108-556: The CIA the right to use the Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base as needed, and rights for CIA aircraft to land at Romanian airports. In Dick Marty's report, it was concluded that between 2002 and 2005 the sites in Romania and Poland held Taliban leaders, al-Qaeda operatives, and other "high-value detainees". There are other reported sites in Ukraine , who denied hosting any such sites, and North Macedonia . In June 2008,

3192-478: The CIA's global detention network. A 2018 ruling by the ECtHR likewise found Romania and Lithuania responsible for the torture and abuse of prisoners that occurred in CIA black sites on their territories. President George W. Bush officially acknowledged the existence of black sites in the fall of 2006, and said that many of the detainees were being transferred to Guantanamo Bay . The International Committee of

3276-597: The CIA's global detention program by the Washington Post, Thai media alleged that the remote Voice of America relay station in Udon Thani Province was the location of a CIA black site known as "Cat's Eye" or "Detention Site Green". Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied such reports, and it remains unclear whether he knew of the site beforehand. Thailand has continued denying

3360-413: The Central Intelligence Agency. The questioning of these and other suspected terrorists provided information that helped us protect the American people. They helped us break up a cell of Southeast Asian terrorist operatives that had been groomed for attacks inside the United States. They helped us disrupt an al Qaeda operation to develop anthrax for terrorist attacks. They helped us stop a planned strike on

3444-522: The Council of Europe alleging inhuman treatment of people and killing of prisoners with the purpose of removal and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo , involving Hashim Thaçi , the Kosovo prime minister and former Kosovo Liberation Army political leader. Kosovo's leading politicians reacted strongly to Marty's report. Kosovo's acting president, Jakup Krasniqi, called the report "racist towards Albanians". Prime Minister Thaçi accused Marty of being "an opponent of Kosovo's independence" and called

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3528-663: The Emirati forces to close all its secret prisons being operated in Yemen. The group claimed that these secret detention facilities intentionally held prisoners, including political opponents, civilians, opinion-makers. In its 26 December 2020 video statement SAM cited one of its reports citing that the Saudi and UAE forces subjected the Yemeni detainees to "cruel forms of torture." Mwatana for Human Rights reported on 11 April 2021 about

3612-591: The Italians were also convicted in person. The defense for Aafia Siddiqui , who was tried in New York City, alleged that she was held and tortured in a secret US facility at Bagram for several years. She was allegedly detained for five years at Bagram with her children; she was the only female prisoner. She was known to the male detainees as "Prisoner 650." Aafia's case gained notoriety due to Yvonne Ridley 's allegations in her book, The Grey Lady of Bagram ,

3696-648: The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in 2004. The full codeword was revealed in the 2013 book Deep State, Inside the Government Secrecy Industry by Marc Ambinder and D.B. Grady. It says that the GREYSTONE compartment contains more than a dozen sub-compartments, which are identified by numbers (shown like GST-001). This makes sure that these sub-programs are only known to those people who are directly involved. There

3780-560: The Lithuanian government. The former riding stable outside of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius consists of long corridors leading to windowless and soundproof rooms where "one could do whatever one wanted," said current Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas , who led a parliamentary investigation into the facility in 2010. After the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture,

3864-667: The Moroccan capital, Rabat , is cited as one such site. On January 23, 2009, The Guardian reported that the CIA ran a secret detention center in Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, a former French Foreign Legion base. The U.S. Naval Base in Diego Garcia was reported to be a black site, but UK and U.S. officials initially attempted to suppress these reports. However, it has since been revealed by Time magazine and

3948-664: The Red Cross (ICRC) prepared a report based on interviews with black site detainees, conducted October 6–11 and December 4–14, 2006, after their transfer to Guantanamo Bay. The report was submitted to Bush administration officials in early 2007. On March 15, 2009, New York Review of Books reported the contents of the ICRC report, which included interviews with detainees, including Abu Zubaydah , Walid bin Attash and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed . Greystone or GREYSTONE (abbreviation: GST)

4032-576: The Serbian Security Intelligence Agency who plotted to assassinate him and place the blame on Albanians to discredit Kosovo internationally. Swiss Info wrote that Marty was guarded by Swiss police over four months in 2020. The Serbian Security Intelligence Agency denied claims of the assassination plot. Marty stated the threats came from Serbian intelligence services who wanted to kill him in order to blame it on Kosovo Albanians. Marty died on 28 December 2023, at

4116-730: The Swiss Council of States for Ticino, he resigned from his executive post and thereafter worked part-time as a legal and economic consultant. Marty was president of Tourism Switzerland from 1996 to 2007. He also served as president of the Swiss Scouting Foundation until 2010. In 2014, Marty was appointed head of the Cycling Independent Reform Commission by the Union Cycliste Internationale , with

4200-484: The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba, which housed those deemed " illegal enemy combatants " under a presidential military order . The existence and specific locations of black sites were known to only a handful of U.S. officials—in some cases limited to just the U.S. president and senior intelligence officers in the host countries. As early as 2002, various human rights organizations and new media reported on secret detention facilities. In November 2005,

4284-406: The U.S. had not signed the memorandum. The Washington Post on December 26, 2002, reported about a secret CIA prison in one corner of Bagram Air Force Base (Afghanistan) consisting of metal shipping containers. On March 14, 2004, The Guardian reported that three British citizens were held captive in a secret section ( Camp Echo ) of the Guantánamo Bay complex. Several other articles reported

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4368-496: The U.S. had not violated any country's sovereignty in the rendition of suspects, and that individuals were never rendered to countries where it was believed that they might be tortured. Some media sources have noted her comments do not exclude the possibility of covert prison sites operated with the knowledge of the "host" nation, or the possibility that promises by such "host" nations that they will refrain from torture may not be genuine. On September 6, 2006, Bush publicly admitted

4452-417: The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or to other countries, according to a 2013 report by the Open Society Justice Initiative. In Afghanistan, the prison at Bagram Air Base was initially housed in an abandoned brickmaking factory outside Kabul known as the " Salt Pit ", but later moved to the base sometime after a young Afghan died of hypothermia after being stripped naked and left chained to

4536-457: The U.S.-detained 100 ghost detainees. A number of the alleged detainees listed above were transferred to the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba in the fall of 2006. With this publicly announced act, the United States government de facto acknowledged the existence of secret prisons abroad in which these prisoners had been held. Khalid El-Masri is a German citizen who was detained in Skopje, flown to Afghanistan, interrogated and tortured by

4620-405: The United States cease holding detainees in secret prisons and stop the practice of rendering prisoners to countries where they are likely to be tortured. The decision was made in Geneva following two days of hearings at which a 26-member U.S. delegation defended the practices. Responding to the allegations about black sites, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated on December 5, 2005, that

4704-441: The Vietnam War. One such base, Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base , was claimed by a senior Thai security official in 2018 to have hosted a black site codenamed "Detention Site Green". In May 2018, the BBC reported that Detention Site Green was used to interrogate at least three "high-value" detainees, including Abu Zubaydah , a 31-year-old Saudi-born Palestinian believed to have been one of Osama bin Laden 's top lieutenants, who

4788-520: The acquiescence, if not direct collaboration, of the host government. CIA black sites systematically employed torture in the form of " enhanced interrogation techniques " of detainees, most of whom had been illegally abducted and forcibly transferred . Known locations included Afghanistan, Lithuania, Morocco, Poland, Romania, and Thailand. Black sites were part of a broader American-led global program that included facilities operated by foreign governments—most commonly Syria, Egypt, and Jordan—as well as

4872-428: The age of 78. CIA black sites Following the September 11 attacks of 2001 and subsequent War on Terror , the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) established a "Detention and Interrogation Program" that included a network of clandestine extrajudicial detention centers, officially known as " black sites ", to detain, interrogate, and often torture suspected enemy combatants , usually with

4956-585: The allegations. In 2015, his effort to fight organised crime in Kosovo was vindicated, when Thaçi was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The second investigation by Dick Marty in 2011 for the Council of Europe supported another finding by Swiss prosecutor Carla Del Ponte , adding that Thaçi had been involved in illegal organ trafficking. On 14 September 2021, a Dutch-based Kosovan court started proceedings against Thaçi, who remains under prosecution, despite lobbying efforts by Albanian-Americans to free him. Marty acted as Special Rapporteur for

5040-407: The ballot measure initially passed the Swiss National Council and was modified by the Council of States, rejecting the counter-initiative by the National Council. At the ballot on 29 November 2020 50,7% of Swiss voters accepted the initiative, but it failed to become law since the majority of the Cantons rejected the text. In April 2022, Swiss media agency Swiss Info alleged Marty was the target of

5124-405: The claims about facilities being located in Poland in the Polish daily newspaper Dziennik . One of them stated that between 2002 and 2005 the CIA held terror suspects inside a military intelligence training base in Stare Kiejkuty in north-eastern Poland. The officer said only the CIA had access to the isolated zone, which was used because it was a secure site far from major towns and was close to

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5208-453: The committee in charge of drafting a legislative recommendation may appoint a shadow rapporteur to represent their views. This legal term article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Dick Marty Dick Marty (7 January 1945 – 28 December 2023) was a Swiss politician ( FDP.The Liberals ) and state prosecutor of the canton of Ticino . He was a member of the Swiss Council of States (from 1995 to 2011) and of

5292-421: The continued forceful detention of approximately 27 civilians at the Al Munawara Central Prison, Mukalla City, Yemen by UAE authorities. Of the 27 detainees, 13 had been granted acquittal, 11 completed their full terms, and the cases of the remaining 3 were nullified by the court. The detainees have been imprisoned for more than a year despite the Hadhramout Specialized Criminal Court granting their release. As per

5376-544: The existence of a black site and has never commissioned an investigation into the Thai officials or agencies involved in the CIA's covert detentions in the country. Owing to concerns that the black site's location had been leaked to U.S. media and was already known by too many Thai officials, the CIA closed its detention facility in December 2002, although unlawful detentions continued in the country at least until 2004. A total of ten CIA prisoners were arrested or held on Thai soil before being transferred without due process to

5460-555: The existence of the secret prisons and that many of the detainees held there were being transferred to Guantanamo Bay. In December 2002, The Washington Post reported that "the capture of al Qaeda leaders Ramzi bin al-Shibh in Pakistan, Omar al-Faruq in Indonesia , Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in Kuwait and Muhammad al Darbi in Yemen were all partly the result of information gained during interrogations." The Post cited "U.S. intelligence and national security officials" in reporting this. On April 21, 2006, Mary O. McCarthy ,

5544-440: The former Soviet satellites and republics) have been accused of and have denied hosting black sites: Armenia , Azerbaijan , Bulgaria , Czechia , Georgia , Hungary , Kazakhstan , Lithuania , Poland and Romania . Slovak ministry spokesman Richard Fides said the country had no black sites, but its intelligence service spokesman Vladimir Simko said he would not disclose any information about possible Slovak black sites to

5628-520: The former detainees, survivors, and witnesses, Emirati forces operating in Yemen run illegal detention centers in the south of the country. Mwatana has also verified the torture of detainees at these Emirati-run secret detention centers where some have gone as far as committing suicide to protest against their unfair detention, as cited by one of the victim's brothers. Some reported sites in Egypt, Libya and Morocco, as well as Djibouti . The Temara interrogation centre , 8 kilometres (5 mi) outside

5712-457: The information she is accused of leaking". The Washington Post posited that McCarthy "had been probing allegations of criminal mistreatment by the CIA and its contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan", and became convinced that "CIA people had lied" in a meeting with US Senate staff in June 2005. In a September 29, 2006, speech, Bush stated: "Once captured, Abu Zubaydah , Ramzi bin al-Shibh , and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were taken into custody of

5796-421: The media. EU Justice commissioner Franco Frattini has repeatedly asserted suspension of voting rights for any member state found to have hosted a CIA black site. The interior minister of Romania, Vasile Blaga , has assured the EU that the Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport was used only as a supply point for equipment, and never for detention, though there have been reports to the contrary. A fax intercepted by

5880-411: The most direct accusals, as the report claims the evidence for these sites is "strong". The report cites airports in Timișoara , Romania, and Szymany , Poland, as "detainee transfer/drop-off point[s]". Eight airports outside Europe are also cited. On May 19, 2006, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (the U.N. body that monitors compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture) recommended that

5964-423: The part of the governments and government officials involved - a process described by Marty as "the dynamic of truth". The claim was subsequently confirmed by judicial rulings, parliamentary inquiries and media, including a series of landmark rulings by the European Court of Human Rights and the US Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture . On 14 December 2010, Marty published a report for adoption by

6048-443: The public no U.S. detainment camps were housed on any UK bases or territories. The UK may also face liabilities over apparent violations of international treaties. On 21 February 2008, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitted that two United States extraordinary rendition flights refuelled on Diego Garcia in 2002, and was "very sorry" that earlier denials were having to be corrected. Several European countries (particularly

6132-510: The report "politically motivated", "not based on facts", with the "goal to damage the newly-created state of Kosovo, Kosovo’s image, to question the election process, creation of institutions and Kosovo’s European future". As reported by several international, Serbian, Kosovan and Albanian news agencies, in an interview for Albanian TV Klan on 24 December 2010, Thaçi threatened to publish a list of Albanians who collaborated in providing information to Dick Marty for this report. On 25 January 2011,

6216-545: The report was criticised by a number of organisations, such as the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics. John Keown, a professor of Christian ethics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC , described it as "Mr Marty's muddle" and criticized him for "superficiality" and "selectivity." The Committee subsequently adopted an amended Opinion prepared by

6300-458: The retention of ghost detainees by the CIA, alongside the other official " enemy combatants ". However, it was the revelations of The Washington Post , in a November 2, 2005, article, that would start the scandal. ( below ) A report by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch , entitled "Enduring Freedom – Abuses by US Forces in Afghanistan", states that the CIA has operated in Afghanistan since September 2001; maintaining

6384-658: The section on Swiss law. In 1975, Marty was nominated state prosecutor of Ticino , in which post he was specially noted for his energetic activities fighting organized crime and drug abuse . For his achievements in the area of drug legislation, he received in 1987 an Award of Honor of the United States Department of Justice and a special award of honor by the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association . In 1995, upon being elected to

6468-476: The use of black sites and the detention and torture of terrorism suspects, albeit without repudiating nor ending extraordinary renditions. A 2010 study by the United Nations found that since 2001, there had been a "progressive and determined elaboration of a comprehensive and coordinated system of secret detention" involving the U.S. and other governments "in almost all regions of the world". Following

6552-495: The world was established in Thailand shortly after September 11, 2001, and has been described as the "test case" for the "enhanced interrogation techniques" that would become standard throughout the CIA program. Thailand is believed to have been chosen due to its formal alliance with the U.S. and long history of close military and intelligence cooperation, such as allowing its air bases to be used for U.S. bombing campaigns during

6636-465: Was allegedly tortured and abused. Hassan Nasr was released by an Egyptian court—who considered his detention "unfounded"—in February 2007 and has not been indicted for any crime in Italy. Ultimately, 26 Americans (mostly suspected CIA agents) and nine Italians were indicted. On November 4, 2009, an Italian judge convicted ( in absentia ) 23 of the Americans, including a U.S. Air Force (USAF) colonel. Two of

6720-622: Was appointed a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , where he became a member of its Monitoring Committee. He was later second vice-chairman of the Political Affairs Committee, with further positions in sub-committees. In 2005, Marty was appointed to lead an investigation by the Council of Europe into alleged unlawful CIA black sites in Europe. Marty used satellite images and aviation logs, among many other sources of information, to find out whether

6804-609: Was criticised by Guy Widdershoven of Maastricht University. Marty's report, as amended by McNamara, was approved by the European Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on 18 September 2003. As of 2015, Marty served as co-president for the ballot measure to amend the Swiss constitution so that global companies headquartered in Switzerland are adhering to human rights and environmental standards. In February 2019,

6888-479: Was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and three counts of assault on U.S. officers and employees. Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison on September 23, 2010, following a hearing in which she testified. An estimated 50 prisons spanning 28 countries have been used to hold detainees, in addition to at least 25 more prisons in Afghanistan and 20 in Iraq. It

6972-428: Was more along the lines of using it as a transit location when perhaps other places were full or other places were deemed too dangerous or insecure, or unavailable at the moment". While the revelation was expected to cause considerable embarrassment for both governments, UK officials were expected to face considerable exposure since they had previously quelled public outcry over U.S. detainee abuse by falsely reassuring

7056-578: Was transferred to the site in March 2002 with the knowledge and consent of the Thai government. Zubaydah is the first known CIA prisoner in the War on Terror to undergo torture. In August 2018, the Royal Thai Army announced that another suspected Udon Thani black site, the former Ramasun Station , would be turned into a tourist attraction, rejecting widespread suspicions that the station had been used as

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