Friday, April 24, 2009
Once the Washington Post blew the cover off the Bush administration’s secret rendition program in November 2005, the CIA began closing up that operation by turning detainees over to other governments or shipping them to Guantánamo Bay. At the time of its disclosure, the program reportedly had as many as 100 prisoners stashed in secret facilities around the world—but today, there are still dozens of detainees whose whereabouts are unknown, according to human rights organizations. ProPublica estimates that the number of missing individuals could be as high as 35, although it is impossible to know exactly how many there may be until the Obama administration acknowledges who was originally incarcerated by the CIA, argues Human Rights Watch.
It is believed that many of the missing detainees wound up in prisons in countries such as Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan. According to ProPublcia, “One example may have involved Saud Memon, a Pakistani national suspected of belonging to al Qaeda and wanted in connection with the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Memon disappeared in March 2003. Four years later, he was dropped off at his home in Lahore, Pakistan. Emaciated and near death, Memon died two weeks later of tuberculosis. Investigators at Human Rights Watch believe he was held in CIA custody before being turned over to Pakistani intelligence agents.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Dozens of Prisoners Held by CIA Still Missing, Fates Unknown (by Dafna Linzer, ProPublica)
List of Likely CIA Prisoners Who Are Still Missing (by Dafna Linzer, ProPublica)
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