U.S. denies allegation of secret prison ships [View All]

[unhappycamper]

U.S. denies allegation of secret prison ships
By David Stringer - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jun 2, 2008 16:39:16 EDT

LONDON — A British human rights organization claimed Monday that the U.S. has used a network of secret prison ships to detain terrorism suspects overseas and conduct interrogations. U.S. officials denied the charge.

Researchers from the group, Reprieve, alleged that high-profile detainees including American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh and Australian Taliban supporter David Hicks were imprisoned on the vessels. Reprieve claims that the U.S. has used ships stationed off the Somali coast and the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia to detain suspects.

“The U.S. administration chooses ships to try to keep their misconduct as far as possible from the prying eyes of the media and lawyers,” Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said.

The Navy said that ships have been used to hold a small number of prisoners for short periods, but it denied that vessels were used as long-term floating prisons.

“We do not operate detention facilities on board Navy ships,” Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon said. “Department of Defense detention facilities are in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_prison_ships_060208/



uhc comment: How about non-Navy ships?