1,3 . Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. For the next 70 days, Mr. Arcentales and the other man he was detained with were held always chained by their ankle to the deck of a ship or to a cable running along one of these large Coast Guard or Navy ships for 70 days. shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The Infographics Show: We all know prisoners are kept locked inside prison cells and monitored. F2 Bulletin Board Service. These secret prisons, floating in international waters, to avoid the US justice system, exist because, under the guise of protecting you from yourself, the US government spends billions on enforcing the failed drug warall at the expense of freedom. [79], In November 2009, reports alleged a black site referred to in The Washington Post's 2005 article had been located in Lithuania. [citation needed], The interior minister of Romania, Vasile Blaga, has assured the EU that the Mihail Koglniceanu Airport was used only as a supply point for equipment, and never for detention, though there have been reports to the contrary. "[116], On December 6, 2007, the CIA admitted that it had destroyed videotapes recordings of CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects involving harsh interrogation techniques, tapes which critics suggest may have documented the use of torture by the CIA, such as waterboarding. Kwasniewski stated that a US memorandum informed him that detainees would be treated as prisoners of war and would be afforded the internationally recognized rights that come with such a designation. We understand that we made these decisions. 1.6m members in the conspiracy community. What I found in my reporting is that detainees, men who are moving cocaine in the Pacific Ocean. In 2008, The Guardian reported that human rights organization Reprieve, which claimed that the US has admitted to holding at least 26,000 people in secret prisons, had discovered that the US was operating a fleet of "floating prisons" that span the globe. We understand that we're going to be punished for this." These have been alleged to constitute "severe pain or suffering" under the UN convention, which would be a violation of the treaty and thus US law. A report by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, entitled "Enduring Freedom - Abuses by US Forces in Afghanistan", states that the CIA has operated in Afghanistan since September 2001;[97] maintaining a large facility in the Ariana Chowk neighborhood of Kabul and a detention and interrogation facility at the Bagram airbase. In their report, they've also stated that a huge number of those people are held on ships that are known as "floating prisons". Right now, a suspected terrorist is sitting in the bowels of a U.S. Navy warship somewhere between the Mediterranean Sea and Washington, D.C. Ahmed Abu Khattala, the alleged leader . 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. 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Ultimately, 26 Americans (mostly suspected CIA agents) and nine Italians were indicted. He was also sentenced to a decade in U.S. federal prison. Naval Base in Diego Garcia was reported to be a black site, but UK and U.S. officials initially attempted to suppress these reports. : http://amzn.to/2p951quCheck out the best of Alltime10s - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLec1lxRhYOzt2qqqnFBIpUm63wr5yhLF6Where else to find All Time 10sFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/Alltime10sTwitter:https://twitter.com/alltime10s Whatever. ", "United States of America / Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and 'disappearance', "Secret prisons: Obama's order to close 'black sites', "United States of America / Yemen: Secret Detention in CIA "Black Sites", "Developments in the British Indian Ocean Territory", "CIA interrogated suspects on Diego Garcia, says Colin Powell aide", "Terror suspects were interrogated on Diego Garcia, US official admits", "Source: US Used UK Isle for Interrogations", "Swiss intercept fax on secret CIA jails", "Swiss paper claims proofs of secret US torture camp", "Folter in Rumnien: Ex-Staatschef Iliescu gibt Existenz von CIA-Gefngnis zu", "Ukraine denies hosting secret CIA prisons", "Inside a 9/11 Mastermind's Interrogation", "Rights group: US won't cooperate with Polish probe of CIA prisons", "Lithuania pinpoints site of alleged secret CIA prison", "Lithuania investigates claim it ran secret prison", "Senate report 'proves Lithuania hosted CIA jail': detainee's lawyers", "Jail for sale: Lithuania to put former CIA black site up for auction", "Polish president admits Poland agreed to host secret CIA 'black site', "John Walker Lindh Profile: The case of the Taliban American", "Myers: Intelligence might have thwarted attacks", "CIA Torture Jet sold in attempted cover up", "Details of US 'torture by proxy flights' emerge", "US accused of holding terror suspects on prison ships", "Prison ships, torture claims, and missing detainees", "Revealed: the full story of the Guantanamo Britons The Observer's David Rose hears the Tipton Three give a harrowing account of their captivity in Cuba", "Transcript of interview of Andrea Mitchell, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Bill Bennett, John Harwood, Dana Priest and William Safire", "U.S. Faces Scrutiny Over Secret Prisons", "Nations Urged to Answer Prison Allegations", http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/11/28/1327488-ap.html, "The Black Sites; A rare look inside the C.I.A. Operated Secret Dark Prison in Kabul (Human Rights Watch, 19-12-2005), "Sexual abuse rife at UAE-run jails in Yemen, prisoners claim", "Disappearances and torture in southern Yemen detention facilities must be investigated as war crimes", "Inside numerous secret prisons in Yemen, the UAE tortures and the U.S. interrogates detainees: Re", "HRW: UAE backs torture and disappearances in Yemen", "Amnesty urges probe into report of UAE torture in Yemen", "UAE runs 'horrific network of torture' in secret Yemen prisons: report", "NGO calls for closing UAE's 'secret prisons' in Yemen", "The UAE and Saudi Arabia Supervise the Arrest and Torture of Dozens of Yemenis", "The #UAE an #SaudiArabia supervise the arrest and torture of dozens of Yemenis", "Authorities in Mukalla must free those being arbitrarily detained in Al Munawara Central Prison", "Is Europe being used to hold CIA detainees? ", And all of these men say "we understand that we've broken laws. At Camp Eagle, a former Yugoslavian air base, the pair claimed that they were beaten and harassed by soldiers before being held and questioned by Americans in civilian clothing. Many families, in fact, believe that their loved ones husbands, fathers, sons had disappeared. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. In 2007, Elite LLC sold the property to the Lithuanian government and then disappeared. Yet the department also stated that the tapes "had no more intelligence value and were not relevant to any inquiries". Of the 119 detainees identified in the US Senate Report on torture, nearly half were detained at the Salt Pit. In the NY Times article,Seth Freed Wesslerreported this story and covered the case of one person who happened to endure time on one of these floating prisons. What kind of prisoners go to private prisons? Ships that are understood to have held prisoners include the USS Bataan and USS Peleliu. In 2008, a Polish intelligence source revealed to the BBC that Stare Kiejkutys facilities were used by the CIA to detain and interrogate high-value detainees. The BBC report stated that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the so-called architect of the 9/11 attacks, had been interrogated in Poland, among other places. The United States is operating "floating prisons" to house those arrested in its war on terror, according to human rights lawyers, who claim there has been an attempt to conceal the numbers and whereabouts of detainees. Makes me think it was a load of bs. If 80,000 have been through the system and 26,000 are currently being held and we are just hearing rumours about this does that mean that 54,000 are 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea. [69], Several European countries (particularly the former Soviet satellites and republics) have been accused of and have denied hosting black sites: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. :confused: How could a wall prevent maritime insertion? While the US and host countries have signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture, CIA officers are allowed to use what the agency calls "enhanced interrogation techniques". [1] A 2021 Associated Press news story defined black sites as "clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with a crime and have no legal recourse, with no bail or court order." Among those ships was the USS Ashland, a Whidbey Islandclass dock landing ship that weighs 16,000 tons and measures 186 meters (610 ft) in length. Is this 'secret prison' number including all the Iraqi detainees in camps in Iraq, or is there some other network of major camps?). Hayden said the CIA has detained fewer than 100 people at secret facilities abroad since 2002, and even fewer prisoners have been secretly transferred to or from foreign governments. After more than two months of detention, Arcentales says, he had lost 20 pounds; Payan says he lost 50. As discussed in the preceding section, many of the facts surrounding black sites remain controversial. [24], In a September 29, 2006, speech, Bush stated: "Once captured, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were taken into custody of the Central Intelligence Agency. The facility is operated by a Moroccan government unit known as the Directorate for the Surveillance of the Territory (DST). How many private prisons exist in the US? Over recent years, this amphibious assault ship has been converted into a floating secret prison, forming part of the CIA network of "black sites" used for so-called "enhanced interrogation . Give us the quick thumbnail sketch of this one guy, in particular, Jhonny Arcentales, and how he ended up there? Some media sources have noted her comments do not exclude the possibility of covert prison sites operated with the knowledge of the "host" nation,[19] or the possibility that promises by such "host" nations that they will refrain from torture may not be genuine. 2.7m members in the teenagers community. As he was driving the boat with an arbitrary substance deemed illegal by the state, Arcentales was intercepted by a coast guard vessel. views, 5,4 . The United States authorities have refused to cooperate with the investigation and the turning over of the relevant documents to the prosecution by the unwilling Intelligence Agency was forced only after the statutory intervention of the First President of the Supreme Court of Poland. The 6,000-page report produced 20 key findings. According to research carried out by Reprieve, the US may have used as many as 17 ships as floating prisons since 2001. He is a fisherman from a coastal town in Ecuador and was having a particularly, economically, rough year and made a decision to take a job smuggling cocaine off of the coast of Ecuador. Ireland was so troubled in the 1820s and 30s that gaols were overflowing. 9. [30], The trial began in January 2010 and lasted 14 days, with the jury deliberating for three days before reaching a verdict. [3][7] After denying the fact for years, Poland confirmed in 2014 that it has hosted black sites. You write about some Ecuadorians who are out there transporting drugs and they end up shackled for many, many days on a Coast Guard boat. An important aspect of black site operation is that the legal status of black site detainees is not clearly defined. Purportedly sent by the Egyptian embassy in London to foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the document states that 23 Iraqi and Afghan citizens were interrogated at Mihail Koglniceanu base near Constana, Romania. Since 2001, more than 80,000 people have passed through these prisons, it said. So, Johnny Arcentales and the other men that I've spoken to know, they're not thinking about where these drugs are going. 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No the bathrooms on these boats are very different, ship to ship. The question about the legality of the U.S. Coast Guard's detention practices has not been raised, in an international context, in criminal courts. The court ordered the Polish government to pay each of the men 100,000 euros in damages. Malinowski's comments prompted quick denials by both Polish and Romanian government officials as well as sparking the concern of the International Committee of the Red Cross ("ICRC"), who called for access to all foreign terrorism suspects held by the United States. In 2014, the US government declassified a US Senate Report on the CIAs Detention and Interrogation Program. A . These Coast Guard ships are deployed deep into the Pacific sometimes thousands of miles from the nearest U.S. port, where they're detaining suspected smugglers and holding them aboard these Coast Guard cutters. Planning and building a new prison is a time consuming exercise. [45] Some Guantanamo Bay detainees report being tortured in a prison they called "the dark prison", also near Kabul. Inquiry", "C.I.A. The Coast Guard was conscripted as the agency empowered to seek out suspected smugglers and bring them to American courts, the Times reports. According to the report, the CIA had operated 1,245 flights, many of them to destinations where suspects could face torture. Valdas Adamkus, a former president of Lithuania, said he is certain that no alleged terrorists were ever detained on Lithuanian territory. This area requires 1775 to 2000 to enter. The argument by the Coast Guard and by federal prosecutors [is] that these logistical delays are legitimate, as its hard enough to get people back. [42] Thailand has denied the existence of the site while the US government has neither confirmed or denied its existence. Campaigners welcome closure of secret prisons network set up by Bush administration post-9/11 Skip . Is Subject of C.I.A. Now, it turns out, there's a secret U.S. detention system in the War on Drugs, too and this one is aboard U.S. Coast Guard cutters sailing in the Pacific Ocean. views, 5,4 tusind likes, 174 loves, 691 comments, 1,8 tusind shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The Infographics Show: We all know prisoners are kept locked inside prison cells and monitored. The US Coast Guard is operating floating prisons in the Pacific Ocean, outside US legal protections!!! A great way to honor those who suffered for this country I wonder how many of those tortured in Japanses POW camps would approve of this. Cardboard, have the actions of the Bush administration given us any reason to believe that this is not true? 24, 2022 . 99% of cocaine in us was cia in the eighties. The article went on to state that a Boeing 737 (registration number N313P, later reregistered N4476S) "was routed through Shannon and Dublin on fourteen occasions from January 1, 2003 to the end of 2004. Countries that held suspects on behalf of the U.S. include Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Libya, Lithuania, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Somalia, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zambia. [13], In January 2012, Poland's Prosecutor General's office initiated investigative proceedings against Zbigniew Siemitkowski, the former Polish intelligence chief. Some of the suspected smugglers have spent months chained to ship decks, awaiting transfer to the mainland for prosecution in American courts. This area is a safe area, and does not have a level requirement to access. I really felt that officials thought people need to be moved off the boats more quickly and, again, are uncomfortable about the conditions that they have to hold people in. [103][104] Such flight patterns might corroborate the claims of government officials that prisoners are grouped into different classes being deposited in different locations. On November 28, 2005, EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini asserted that any EU country which had operated a secret prison would have its voting rights suspended. This instruction was opened following a complaint deposed in December 2005 by the Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH) NGO ("Human Rights League") and the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) NGO on charges of "arbitrary detention", "crime of torture" and "non-respect of the rights of war prisoners". Follow him @timothybissell. Other flights began in places such as Dubai (June 2, 2003 and December 30, 2003), Mitiga (October 29, 2003 and April 27, 2004), Baghdad (2003) and Marka (February 8, 2004, March 4, 2004, May 10, 2004), all of which ended in Washington, D.C.. The Egyptian security service also operated black sites involved with the CIAs counter-terror black site program. Arcentales, who was sentenced to a decade in federal prison, told the Times that the abuse he suffered at the hands of the Coast Guard will haunt him forever. Details of ships where detainees have been held and sites. He also writes for online publications such as OZY and Bloody Elbow. By 2005, the CIA had overwhelmingly outsourced operations related to the program. On May 19, 2006, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (the U.N. body that monitors compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture) recommended that the United States cease holding detainees in secret prisons and stop the practice of rendering prisoners to countries where they are likely to be tortured. The army rejected suspicions that the station had been used as a black site. Of the 27 detainees, 13 had been granted acquittal, 11 completed their full terms, and the cases of the remaining 3 were nullified by the court. According to The Guardian, in 2009, the CIA themselves confirmed that they had destroyed 92 tapes of interviews with terror suspects which were filmed somewhere in Thailand. The CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program damaged the United States' standing in the world, and resulted in other significant monetary and non-monetary costs. Posted on June 2, . Dear god..we are the evil empire. But some of it may be going to other markets, to European markets, to Australian markets or elsewhere. The total number of ghost detainees is presumed to be at least one hundred, although the precise number cannot be determined because fewer than 10% have been charged or convicted. But the Coast Guard has no clear rules about how long they can hold people. 5. In 2010, the Associated Press reported that several US officials had confirmed that the facility was operated by Moroccans but was financed by the CIA. We all know prisoners are kept locked inside prison cells and monitored 24/7, but have you ever heard of a floating prison? Now, it turns out, there's a secret U.S. detention system in the War on Drugs, too and this one is aboard U.S. Coast Guard cutters sailing in the Pacific Ocean. In the past Chevalier Floatels has come up with an innovative solution to provide a fast solution to governments who had a sudden increase of detainees. [11], On September 6, 2006, Bush publicly admitted the existence of secret prisons[9] and announced that many of the detainees held there were being transferred to Guantanamo Bay.[12]. All of this horrific torture and inhumane treatment is done under the guise of protecting Americans. [citation needed] EU Justice commissioner Franco Frattini has repeatedly asserted suspension of voting rights for any member state found to have hosted a CIA black site. As weve made this decision to prosecute more and more people, these delays have grown longer and longer.. [80] The allegations resulted in a parliamentary inquiry, and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskait stated that she had "indirect suspicions" about a black site in her country. [135], In its edition of January 8, 2006, the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick published a document intercepted on November 10 by the Swiss Onyx interception system (similar to the UKUSA's ECHELON system). Courts have generally bought the government's argument. Presenter Paula Harriott is Head of Prisoner Engagement for the Prison Reform Trust, having spent time behind bars. The reality is that when the Coast Guard has had to move people more quickly, they do. Alongside her is Phil Maguire OBE, who has worked in prisons for over 15 years and is the Chief Executive of the Prison Radio Association. Responding to the allegations about black sites, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated on December 5, 2005 that the U.S. had not violated any country's sovereignty in the rendition of suspects, and that individuals were never rendered to countries where it was believed that they might be tortured. In 2004, Amnesty International alleged that the DST is a recurrent and flagrant abuser of human rights and that many of these offenses have occurred at Temara. secret floating prisons. If you're looking for a unique Venice . The countries named were: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Chechnya is arguably the most homophobic area in Russia, with 95% of its population adhering to Orthodox (Sunni) Islam. public anger over US torture practices drove the government to establish floating prisons, which allowed the military to evade international law as well as domestic law, and the . Very often, detainees are brought to port in one of these cutters, then placed in a hidden room in a helicopter hangar or in a room below deck and hidden there for the day while the Coast Guard cutter refuels or the Coast Guard crew get a bit of a break and then are brought back out to sea. [48] Additionally, Camp Bucca (near Umm Qasr) and Camp Cropper (near the Baghdad International Airport) were reported. Eight airports outside Europe are also cited. The Salt Pit, also known as Cobalt, is a former brick factory located north of Kabul in Afghanistan. Detainees are interrogated aboard the vessels and then rendered to other, often undisclosed, locations, it is claimed. Required fields are marked *. [81] On December 22, 2009, the parliamentary commission finished its investigation and stated they found no proof that a black site had existed in Lithuania. He was brought to the United States, charged criminally under drug trafficking laws and was sentenced to 10 years to a decade in federal prison. Floating Turtle If you travel towards the north from the west side of the Great Tree, you can find the Floating Turtle. Learn how your comment data is processed. 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. Diebold is still out there. Defense lawyers have challenged the practice in federal courts with no success. Stafford Smith also said that up to 17 ships have been used as floating prisons, beyond the . Our free link-sharing technology tools are useful for schools and parents to give a children friendly YouTube experience. "That's a pretty good example of taking something to the darkest corner of the room and not reflective of what my agency does" Hayden told one person from a human rights organization.[27]. Bush said that the interrogation techniques "have been fully disclosed to appropriate members of Congress".[113]. Just when you think that youve heard the worst, this administration tops it. On December 2, 2005, conservative newspaper Le Figaro had revealed the existence of two CIA planes that had landed in France, suspected of transporting CIA prisoners.