Remember their names

Human Rights Watch has put out a list of people who have been "detained" by CIA or other US forces. Currently, their whereabouts since the CIA kidnapping are unknown.

But based on accounts from former detainees, press articles, and other sources, Human Rights Watch has put together a list of 16 people whom we believe were once held in CIA prisons and whose current whereabouts are unknown. We have also compiled a separate list of 22 people who were possibly once held in CIA prisons and whose current whereabouts are also unknown.

The following people—whose name, nationality, and place and date of arrest are provided, where known—are believed to have once been held in secret CIA prisons:

1. Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (Libyan) (Pakistan, 11/01)

2. Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman (aka Asadallah) (Egyptian) (Quetta, Pakistan,2/03)

3. Yassir al-Jazeeri (Algerian) (Lahore, Pakistan, 3/03)

4. Suleiman Abdalla Salim (Kenyan) (Mogadishu, Somalia, 3/03)

5. Marwan al-Adeni (Yemeni) (approximately 5/03)

6. Ali Abd al Rahman al Faqasi al Ghamdi (Saudi) (Medina, Saudi Arabia, 6/03)

7. Hassan Ghul (Pakistani) (northern Iraq, 1/04)

8. Ayoub al-Libi (Libyan) (Peshawar, Pakistan, 1/04)

9. Mohammed al Afghani (Afghan born in Saudi Arabia) (Peshawar, Pakistan, 5/04)

10. Abdul Basit (probably Saudi or Yemeni) (arrested before 6/04)

11. Adnan (arrested before 6/04)

12. Hudeifa (arrested before 6/04)

13. Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan (aka Abu Talaha) (Pakistani) (Lahore, Pakistan, 7/04)

14. Muhammad Setmarian Naser (Syrian/Spanish) (Quetta, Pakistan, 11/05)

15. Unnamed Somali (possibly Shoeab as-Somali)

16. Unnamed Somali (possibly Rethwan as-Somali)

In addition, the following people may have once been held in secret CIA prisons:

1. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi (presumably Iraqi) (1/02)

2. Anas al-Liby (Libyan) (Khartoum, Sudan, 2/02)

3. Retha al-Tunisi (Tunisian) (Karachi, Pakistan, early- to mid-2002)

4. Sheikh Ahmed Salim (aka Swedan) (Tanzanian) (Kharadar, Pakistan, 7/02)

5. Saif al Islam el Masry (Egyptian) (Pankisi Gorge, Georgia, 9/02)

6. Amin al-Yafia (Yemeni) (Iran, 2002)

7. _ al-Rubaia (Iraqi) (Iran, 2002)

8. Aafia Siddiqui (Pakistani) (Karachi, Pakistan, 3/03) –only female

9. Jawad al-Bashar (Egyptian) (Vindher, Balochistan, Pakistan, 5/03)

10. Safwan al-Hasham (aka Haffan al-Hasham) (Saudi) (Hyderabad, Pakistan, 5/03)

11. Abu Naseem (Tunisian) (Peshawar, Pakistan, 6/03)

12. Walid bin Azmi (unknown nationality) (Karachi, Pakistan, 1/04)

13. Ibad Al Yaquti al Sheikh al Sufiyan (Saudi) (Karachi, Pakistan, 1/04)

14. Amir Hussein Abdullah al-Misri (Egyptian) (Karachi, Pakistan, 1/04)

15. Khalid al-Zawahiri (Egyptian) (South Waziristan, Pakistan, 2/04)

16. Musaab Aruchi (aka al-Baluchi) (Pakistani) (Karachi, Pakistan, 6/04)

17. Qari Saifullah Akhtar (Pakistani) (arrested in the UAE, 8/04)

18. Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil (Kenyan/Egyptian) (eastern Punjab, Pakistan, 8/04)

19. Sharif al-Masri (Egyptian) (Pakistan border, 8/04)

20. Osama Nazir (Pakistani) (Faisalabad, Pakistan, 11/04)

21. Osama bin Yousaf (Pakistani) (Faisalabad, Pakistan, 8/05)

22. Speen Ghul (from Africa) (Pakistan)

Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the fate of these people. One possibility is that the CIA may have transferred some of them to foreign prisons where for practical purposes they remain under CIA control. Another worryingalternative is that prisoners were transferred from CIA custody to places where they face a serious risk of torture, in violation of the fundamental prohibition on returns to torture. We note that some of the missing prisoners are from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Syria, countries where the torture of terrorism suspects is common.