Amnesty reports global network of hidden US prisons

Amnesty International released a bombshell of a report last week, alleging that the US operates secret, underground prison facilities in countries other than Afghanistan, Iraq or Guantanamo. While it is possible that the alleged prisons exist in Afghanistan and Iraq, the report suggests that the US may operate these prisons in Jordan, Pakistan, Thailand, Egypt, or on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

The report is based on the testimony of two Yemeni nationals, longtime residents in Indonesia, who were imprisoned on separate occasions two years ago, taken to Jordanian prisons, where they claim they were tortured, and then flown for "over 4 hours" to unknown, underground prisons where they were held in solitary confinement.




Salah Nasser Salim Ali (above) and Muhammad Faraj Ahmed Bashmilah (below)

Their captors, who spoke "American English" remained hooded for the many months of their captivity. The men claimed they were repeatedly abused by their "ninja-like" interrogators, and given no idea why they were imprisoned or when they would be released.

The Yemeni government has confirmed to Amnesty International that the men were repatriated to Yemen, on the condition that they would be indefinitely imprisoned. The government is apparently complying with this condition, as the two men were interviewed in a Yemeni prison, where they have remained, without being charged, since they were remanded to Yemeni custody in June 2005.

The Department of Defense has yet to respond to these allegations.