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WORLD> America
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US holds terror suspects on prison ships
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-02 22:31 "By its own admission, the US government is currently detaining at least 26,000 people without trial in secret prisons, and information suggests up to 80,000 have been 'through the system' since 2001. The US government must show a commitment to rights and basic humanity by immediately revealing who these people are, where they are, and what has been done to them," said the director. Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition, called for the US and British governments to come clean over the holding of detainees. "Little by little, the truth is coming out on extraordinary rendition. The rest will come, in time. Better for governments to be candid now, rather than later," said Tyries."Greater transparency will provide increased confidence that President Bush's departure from justice and the rule of law in the aftermath of September11 is being reversed, and can help to win back the confidence of moderate Muslim communities, whose support is crucial in tackling dangerous extremism," he added. Washington denied the operation of the "floating prisons." A US navy spokesman, Commander Jeffrey Gordon, told the Guardian "there are no detention facilities on US navy ships." But he added that it was a matter of public record that some individuals had been put on ships "for a few days" during what he called the initial days of detention. According to the report, ships that allegedly have held prisoners include the USS Bataan and USS Peleliu, and a further 15 ships are suspected of operating around the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which has been used as a military base by Britain and the United States. It is reported that the US spy agency operates a covert prison system covering eight countries for holding terror suspects, and the locations of these prisons, so called "black sites," included Thailand, Afghanistan and several East European countries as well as the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay. |
