The Guardian reports that the US is using prison ships to lock up terrorism suspects
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.
Details of ships where detainees have been held and sites allegedly being used in countries across the world have been compiled as the debate over detention without trial intensifies on both sides of the Atlantic. The US government was yesterday urged to list the names and whereabouts of all those detained.
Information about the operation of prison ships has emerged through a number of sources, including statements from the US military, the Council of Europe and related parliamentary bodies, and the testimonies of prisoners.
The analysis, due to be published this year by the human rights organisation Reprieve, also claims there have been more than 200 new cases of rendition since 2006, when President George Bush declared that the practice had stopped.
Now it’s true that there are several prison ships being used in the Netherlands as well, but for all their faults, these are safely moored off in a harbour, not sailing around the Indian Ocean, away from all judicial oversight. If this accusation is ture, and it seems unlikely not to be, it’s further evidence that America’s war on terror has been a dirty war, like the Argentine generals used to wage against their own population.