The American human rights watchdog said abuse in the US detention camps worldwide was "inevitable"

CAIRO, June 19 (IslamOnline.net) – The United States has more than 24 world detention camps, at least half of them operate in total secrecy, where the abuse of detainees is "inevitable", an American human rights watchdog recently unveiled.

In a report entitled "Ending Secret Detention", the Human Rights First provides an account of US military detention facilities in Afghanistan , Iraq , Pakistan , Jordan , and aboard US ships at sea.

They are added to a list of more known detention facilities including the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan , and Abu Ghraib , Iraq .

"The abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib cannot be addressed in isolation," said Deborah Pearlstein, the Director of Human Rights First's US Law and Security Program.

"The United States government is holding prisoners in a secret system of off-shore prisons beyond the reach of adequate supervision, accountability, or law," Pearlstein said in a press release released on Thursday, June 17.

In Jordan, a key Middle East ally to the United States , the report cited Al Jafr Prison as a CIA interrogation facility.

In Iraq , the report said, the US occupation forces have more than 10 detention facilities run by military divisions and brigades commanders.

It cited Ashraf Camp, a detention facility for Mujahideen-E-Khalq (MEK), an Iraqi based organization seeking to overthrow the government in Iran .

Ashraf Camp was disclosed as a detention site for MEK detainees in February 2004, but as of June 11, the US occupation forces refused to discuss the status or location of the MEK detainees, the group said.

The Observer reported on Sunday, June 13, that Washington and its allies are running a wanton global network of detention camps allowing the US to fly so-called terror suspects to other countries where they are tortured for information.

"Inevitable" Abuse

The American human rights watchdog said the secrecy shrouding this network of detention facilities, as it has been constructed and operated by the United States, makes "inappropriate detention and abuse not only likely, but inevitable."

A scandal of Iraqi detainees being tortured or sexually humiliated by US guards and investigators exploded onto the world stage on April 29 after the CBS news network published several graphic photos  of their humiliation.

The report outlined what is known about this global detention system, and found that it is, to varying degrees in different locations, failing to meet existing obligations under US and international law.

The obligations include affording the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) unfettered access to all detainees held in the course of armed conflict, providing every individual in custody some recognized legal status and disclosing the names of all individuals detained to their families and friends.

Pentagon has confirmed that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered a secret detention of an Iraqi detainee without giving him an identification number so that he can be kept from the eyes of the ICRC teams.

Human Rights First, earlier known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, called for a comprehensive global response by US authorities to end these secret detentions, to investigate abuses, and to put necessary corrective measures in place.

It also urged giving the ICRC immediate access to all those in American custody under the so-called "war on terror."

In a chapter called "The Purpose Behind the Law," the report argues that the United States' illegal treatment of detainees puts US forces abroad at greater risk of the same kinds of torture and ill treatment.

It also describes how these illegal practices seriously undermine the United States ' ability to forge alliances throughout the international community.

"The United States ' practices in its global network of detention facilities also has a deeply negative effect on the US ability to combat the threat of terrorism," the report found.

In a damning report presented to the administration in February, US Major General Antonio Taguba found numerous "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses"  at Abu Ghriab.

The daily said Saturday, June 12, that top US commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, gave free reign to US officers in charge of Abu Ghraib prison to adopt various torture and abuse tactics used at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo.

In May, Human Rights Watch said the abuse of Afghan detainees by the US forces in Afghanistan was "systematic" and not limited to a few cases.