The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on
Thursday that it would visit key terrorism suspects transferred
from secret CIA jails to Guantanamo Bay.
The Geneva-based organization said it had received assurances
from the United States that the visit would take place under the
usual terms and that it would be able to speak to the prisoners in
private.
"(The visit) will be next week," said ICRC spokeswoman Antonella
Notari. "We were assured that the terms would be in accordance with
our standard practices."
The announcement came after Washington acknowledged on Wednesday
the existence of secret jails and said that 14 prisoners had been
sent to the US-run detention center in Cuba.
In a televised address, President George W. Bush said the
suspects, who include the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, had been kept in CIA custody. They
are expected to face trial.
The ICRC, which has long been pressing for access to all
detainees held in Guantanamo, welcomed the US move. But it said it
had no information on where the 14 had previously been held.
"It is a good sign to transfer them out of undisclosed places of
detention," Notari said. "It is a good first step."
Washington's surprise move on Wednesday followed previous
refusals to admit the existence of secret CIA prisons.
The detention program, which was revealed by the media last
year, prompted an international outcry.
Swiss senator Dick Marty is currently in charge of a European
investigation into the matter.
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He said Bush's admission was "just one piece of the truth", but had
not come as a surprise to him. "There is more, much more to be
revealed by the United States."
The ICRC, which visits prisoners of war under the Geneva
Conventions on warfare, always demands access to all detainees and
to the facilities where they are held, Notari said.
The ICRC insists on meeting each prisoner in private and being
able to make repeat visits and relay messages between the prisoners
and their families.
(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2006)
