In an interview, Seth Freed Wessler, who wrote the November 20, 2017 Times article, noted the practice of holding suspects at sea for long periods of time has been condoned by the judicial system. So the Coast Guard is arresting these people in these boats and it's not clear whether the drugs on these boats are going to the U.S.? ; . Reprieve, a human right's organization, claims there have been more than 200 new cases of rendition since 2006 and that the US may have used as many as 17 ships as "floating prisons" since 2001. Investigative journalist and TED Fellow Will Potter explains. A report by Helgerson's office completed in the spring of 2004 warned that some CIA-approved interrogation procedures appeared to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as defined by the international Convention Against Torture. [6] Chechen authorities have thwarted attempts by the Russian LGBT Network to help gay people in Chechnya escape to safe locations in Russia, and inhibited investigations by the Kremlin's human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova. 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. "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. However, they aren't shackled to the deck of a ship for a few hours or even a few days. He said that a U.S. draft memorandum had stated that "people held in Poland are to be treated as prisoners of war and will be afforded all the rights they are entitled to", but due to time constraints the U.S. had not signed the memorandum. 1. 8. Who owns most of the prisons in America? Cardboard, the Guardian is hardly a conspiracy theory forum. The US Coast Guard is operating floating prisons in the Pacific Ocean, outside US legal protections!!! These secret prisons, floating in international waters, to avoid the US justice system, exist because, under the guise of protecting youfrom yourself, the US government spends billions on enforcing the failed drug warall at the expense of freedom. [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. As discussed in the preceding section, many of the facts surrounding black sites remain controversial. 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". 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. The US government is holding hundreds of people without trial, shackled to the decks of Coast Guard boats for months, all to enforce the drug war. Author: Traci Tong (PRI) We could no longer endure living in such conditions for that prolonged period of time, Arcentales wrote later in a letter. US President George W. Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons operated by the CIA during a speech on September 6, 2006. He was ultimately brought to shore in Central America and told "you're going to be handed over to the Drug Enforcement Administration now" and brought to the United States to face prosecution after more than two months held aboard these ships. He says a combination of U.S. agreements with Latin American countries and the U.S. Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act allows the US to take this action. 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. A number of the alleged detainees listed above were transferred to the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba in the fall of 2006. [62], On January 23, 2009, The Guardian reported that the CIA ran a secret detention center in Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, a former French Foreign Legion base. Ghost prisoners are subject to what the CIA calls enhanced interrogation tactics; most others call it torture. The group claimed that these secret detention facilities intentionally held prisoners, including political opponents, civilians, opinion-makers. [70] Slovak ministry spokesman Richard Fides said the country had no black sites, but its intelligence service spokesman Vladimir Simko said he would not disclose any information about possible Slovak black sites to the media. Once detained, the Coast Guard employs the fiction that the suspects are not under arrest, sometimes chains them to the deck exposed to the elements, feeds them near starvation rations and provides them buckets for toilets. 10 Forbidden Destinations That You're Not Allowed To Visit, 10 Secret Prisons Governments Are Hiding From Us, 10 Famous Tech Ceos You Do Not Want To Work For, 10 Strange Cemeteries You'll Be Dying To Visit, Top 10 Amazing Places You Can Visit (In Minecraft), 10 Inescapable Prisons People Somehow Escaped From, 10 Horrifying Stories From Communist Prisons And Labor Camps, 10 Terrifying Bridges You Won't Want To Cross, Ten Absolutely Vicious Fights over Inherited Fortunes, 10 Female Film Pioneers Who Shaped the Movies, Ten True Tales from Americas Toughest Prison, 10 Times Members of Secretive Societies and Organizations Spilled the Beans, 10 Common Idioms with Unexpectedly Dark Origins, 10 North American Animals with Misplaced Reputations, Top 10 Creepiest and Strangest Homes on Zillow, Top Ten Worst Book to Movie Adaptations Ever Filmed, 10 Reasons New Orleans Is Master of the Macabre, 10 Eerie Ghost Cities Left Behind by the Soviet Union, 10 Horrifying Hospitals You Never Want To Stay In, Top 10 Places Creepier Than Stephen Kings Maine. She said she had no doubt that illegal flights were frequently permitted during the Duro Barroso (20022004) and Santana Lopes (20042005) governments, and that "during the [present Socialist] government of Jos Scrates, 24 flights which passed through Portuguese territory" are documented. [107], An August 13, 2007, story by Jane Mayer in The New Yorker reported that the CIA has operated "black site" secret prisons by the direct presidential order of George W. Bush since shortly after 9/11, and that extreme psychological interrogation measures based at least partially on the Vietnam-era Phoenix Program were used on detainees. The men said that they were eventually released and given $500 in compensation. In today's insane new prison video we're going aboard the secret prison ships were prisoners are chained the the deck of a ship and forced to endure the harsh conditions at sea. He said that he had heard from three U.S. intelligence sources that Diego Garcia was used as "a transit site where people were temporarily housed, let us say, and interrogated from time to time" and that "What I heard was more along the lines of using it as a transit location when perhaps other places were full or other places were deemed too dangerous or insecure, or unavailable at the moment". 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. Example video title will go here for this video. 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 . In its 26 December 2020 video statement SAM cited one of its reports citing that the Saudi and UAE forces subjected the Yemeni detainees to cruel forms of torture.[55][56][57], Mwatana for Human Rights reported on 11 April 2021 about the continued forceful detention of approximately 27 civilians at the Al Munawara Central Prison, Mukalla City, Yemen by UAE authorities. Is this 'secret prison' number including all the Iraqi detainees in camps in Iraq, or is there some other network of major camps?). Two contract psychologists devised the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques and played a central role in the operation, assessments, and management of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. The interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others. He really didn't know all that much about what he was doing. According to research carried out by Reprieve, the US may have used as many as 17 ships as floating prisons since 2001. Now, however, it seems to have gotten worse as an ad-hoc US detention system has . He had written an article, rejected by the magazine, about flights passing through Lajes Field in the Azores, a Portuguese airbase used by the U.S. Air Force. The communique described the detention of 23 Iraqi and Afghan captives at the airport. [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. Despite protests in major Russian cities against the situation in Chechnya, Vladimir Putin, wanting to maintain good relations with Kadyrov, has denied that any abuses of homosexuals in Chechnya have occurred. US President George W. Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons operated by the CIA during a speech on September 6, 2006. **The conspiracy subreddit is a thinking ground. Two of the alleged smugglers profiled in the Times described their on-board meals as consisting of small portions of black beans and rice, with an occasional piece of chicken or spinach. secret floating prisonswaterrower footboard upgrade. The Coast Guard makes the argument that these people are not formally under arrest until they get to the United States. [74] On April 22, 2015, Ion Iliescu, former President of Romania, confirmed that he had granted a CIA request for a site in Romania, but was not aware of the nature of the site, describing it as a small gesture of goodwill to an ally in advance of Romania's eventual accession to NATO. In August 2018, the Royal Thai Army announced that another suspected Udon Thani black site, the former Ramasun Station, would be turned into a tourist attraction. Officially, it is home to the Combined Joint Task ForceHorn of Africa, a US combat unit that was mobilized during Operation Enduring Freedom, aka The War on Terror. By 2005, the CIA had overwhelmingly outsourced operations related to the program. 4. Jhonny Arcentales, a fisherman who was caught smuggling cocaine, lost 20 pounds during almost 70 days of floating confinement, while Jair Guevara Payan lost 50. This is what we've got.". In the 1960s and 1970s, the UK deported the native people of the atoll to Mauritius and the Seychelles in order to allow the United States to construct a large naval and military base now known as Camp Thunder Cove. None of these prisoners can afford to pay for representation. 12/07/22: 3: U.S. Coast Guard operating secret floating prisons in Pacific Ocean: 05/31/18: 4: Conspiracy my ass!!! He's called drug smuggling in Central America an existential threat to the United States. Iliescu further stated that had he known of the intended use of the site, he would certainly not have approved the request. The CIA coordinated the release of classified information to the media, including inaccurate information concerning the effectiveness of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques. Pawn Stars is a very interesting show when you think about it. The CIA marginalized and ignored numerous internal critiques, criticisms, and objections concerning the operation and management of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. Eight airports outside Europe are also cited. Instead, five months after his death, the lead CIA officer who ordered Rahman be chained up was given a $2,500 bonus for consistently superior work.. On November 8, 2005, rights group Amnesty International provided the first comprehensive testimony from former inmates of the CIA black sites. But the instruction concerned only N50BH, which was a Gulfstream III, which would have landed at Le Bourget on July 20, 2005, coming from Oslo, Norway. views, likes, loves, comments, shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The Infographics Show: We all know prisoners are kept locked inside prison cells and monitored. "[25], On July 20, 2007, Bush made an executive order banning torture of captives by intelligence officials. Wessler explained thatJhonny Arcentales, a fisherman who was paid to drive a boat South America and Central American, was caught up in one of these busts. The facility is operated by a Moroccan government unit known as the Directorate for the Surveillance of the Territory (DST). [127], Approximately 150 CIA flights have been identified as having flown through Portugal. He didn't tell anyone and disappeared. See US accused of holding terror suspects on prison ships for the grisly story. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. [125], Viso magazine journalist Rui Costa Pinto also testified before the DCIAP. [133], The European Union (EU) as well as the Council of Europe pledged to investigate the allegations. The Coast Guard has gotten away with this inhumane and horrific practice for years by claiming that logistics make it hard to get these people back. According to the report, the CIA had operated 1,245 flights, many of them to destinations where suspects could face torture. : http://amzn.to/2pbWBzr What camera do we use to film? Men. Somebody could be put on a plane and brought back to the United States. The Clive Stafford Smith quoted in the article heads Reprieve-UK, which describes itself as follows: Reprieve provides frontline investigation and legal representation to prisoners denied justice by powerful governments across the world, especially those governments that should be upholding the highest standards when it comes to fair trials. US Accused of Regime of Secret Floating Prisons. Wessler spoke with The World's Carol Hills about his reporting and these "floating Guantnamos" on the Pacific Ocean. 9. 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. Jim Chalmers has been spotted de-stressing after a horrible week in which he was called an 'L-plate' treasurer and publicly pulled up by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over tax reform plans.. Dr . views, 5,4 . We understand that we made these decisions. 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. He also writes for online publications such as OZY and Bloody Elbow. In the February 26 March 4, 2005, edition of Ireland's Village magazine, an article titled "Abductions via Shannon" claimed that Dublin and Shannon airports in Ireland were "used by the CIA to abduct suspects in its 'war on terror'". [64][65] However, it has since been revealed by Time magazine and a "senior American official" source that the isle was indeed used by the U.S. as a secret prison for "war on terror" detainees. The wide open seas must be convenient to dump the bodies/dispose of the evidence. The list of those thought to be held by the CIA includes suspected al-Qaeda members Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Abu Zubaydah. In 2015, The Intercept revealed aerial shots of Camp Lemonnier showing how the base, which is a crucial takeoff point for Reaper and Predator drones, has been steadily expanding. 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. [31][32][33] Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison on September 23, 2010, following a hearing in which she testified.[34]. 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. [134] On December 13, 2005, Marty, investigating illegal CIA activity in Europe on behalf of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, reported evidence that "individuals had been abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal standards". Ultimately, most of the cocaine on these smugglers' small boats is probably headed for the United States. The Salt Pit, also known as Cobalt, is a former brick factory located north of Kabul in Afghanistan. A June 2006 report from the Council of Europe estimated 100 people had been kidnapped by the CIA on EU territory (with the cooperation of Council of Europe members), and rendered to other countries, often after having transited through secret detention centres ("black sites") used by the CIA, some located in Europe. Give us the quick thumbnail sketch of this one guy, in particular, Jhonny Arcentales, and how he ended up there? Just give them a story premise and Im sure theyd be happy to run with it. [152][153], On 31 May 2018, the ECHR ruled that Romania and Lithuania also violated the rights of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in 20032005 and in 20052006 respectively, and Lithuania and Romania were ordered to pay 100,000 euros in damages each to Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Nashiri. Diego Garcia is an atoll in the Indian Ocean located around 1,600 kilometers (1,000 mi) south of India and 3,200 kilometers (2,000 mi) east of Tanzania. Asked a question about waterboarding, Hayden mentioned attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, saying, "Judge Mukasey cannot nor can I answer your question in the abstract. The technical solution of "The Flying," presented by David . Floating Prisons by Anne McMahon. 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. . And yet it goes on. The site was closed in December 2002. 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. Far from it.. [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 locale is claimed by the United Kingdom as part of their British Indian Ocean Territory. I need to understand the totality of the circumstances in which this question is being posed before I can give you an answer. As we've made this decision to prosecute more and more people, these delays have grown longer and longer. [79], In November 2009, reports alleged a black site referred to in The Washington Post's 2005 article had been located in Lithuania. [11], A European Union (EU) report adopted on February 14, 2007, by a majority of the European Parliament (382 MEPs voting in favor, 256 against and 74 abstaining) stated the CIA operated 1,245 flights and that it was not possible to contradict evidence or suggestions that secret detention centers where prisoners have been tortured were operated in Poland and Romania. It also awarded Abu Zubaydah 30,000 euros to cover his costs. [15] Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz characterized the accusation as "libel", while Romania similarly said there was no evidence. And for the next 70 days, he was held aboard a series of Coast Guard cutters and Navy frigates as he was moved around the Pacific Ocean. They are, verbatim from the unclassified summary report:[149], According to the report, at least 26 of the 119 prisoners (22%) held by the CIA were subsequently found by the CIA to have been improperly detained,[149] many having also experienced torture. He was also sentenced to a decade in U.S. federal prison. As he was moving this cocaine on a boat with three other men, another Ecuadorian man and a Colombian man, they were approaching Central America, approaching Guatemala and the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard intercepted that boat and pulled these men off. Planning and building a new prison is a time consuming exercise. In an effort to staunch the flow of cocaine and other hard drugs from South America to Central America and points north, Coast Guard cutters have been deployed farther and farther from the shore in the Pacific Ocean. According to the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act of 1986, drug smugglers caught in international waters are considered to be committing a crime against the United States,even when there was no proof that the drugs, often carried on foreign boats, were bound for the United States. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the USS Cole bombings, was also supposedly held at Site Green. On November 25, 2005, the lead investigator for the Council of Europe, Swiss lawmaker Dick Marty announced that he had obtained latitude and longitude coordinates for suspected black sites, and he was planning to use satellite imagery over the last several years as part of his investigation. Some have speculated that the information allegedly leaked may have included information about the camps. Do you people actually believe all of this idiotic crap? duh Senator Ron Wyden (DOregon) said he was sending a letter to Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, asking him to instruct Hayden to drop the inquiry. Yikes! Since then, the site has been used to train Lithuanias state security service. [28], On April 21, 2006, The New York Times reported that European investigators said they had not been able to find conclusive evidence of the existence of European black sites. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the report "added absolutely nothing new whatever to the information we have". During the Egyptian Crisis (20112014) hundreds of protesters alleged that torture occurred at these black sites. That report stated that no CIA officers were ever charged with crimes relating to the death of Rahman. I would wake up sweating; almost crying, thinking I was still chained. Answer (1 of 3): They did back in the Victorian era like when San Quentin was a ship anchored in the harbor before the prison was built.. the prisoners built the prison and started with the C.O's Barricks first. But some of it may be going to other markets, to European markets, to Australian markets or elsewhere. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. [42] Thailand has denied the existence of the site while the US government has neither confirmed or denied its existence. On March 15, 2009, Mark Danner provided a report in the New York Review of Books (with an abridged version in The New York Times) describing and commenting on the contents of the ICRC report. To quote the report, "At this stage of the investigations, there is no formal, irrefutable evidence of the existence of secret CIA detention centres in Romania, Poland or any other country. Under the Trump administration, he became head of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard. 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. In 2014, the US government declassified a US Senate Report on the CIAs Detention and Interrogation Program. "I find it unfathomable that the committee tasked with oversight of the C.I.A. The UAE runs secret prisons in Yemen where prisoners are forcibly disappeared and tortured. : http://amzn.to/2p8Y4G2What mic do we use for our voice overs? Anything. No the bathrooms on these boats are very different, ship to ship. [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]. He really didn't know all that much about what he was doing. 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 . In 2011, the Obama administration admitted that it had been holding a Somali prisoner for two months aboard a U.S. naval ship at sea for interrogation. 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. After more than two months of detention, Arcentales says, he had lost 20 pounds; Payan says he lost 50. I take it it's a little bit more complicated? In the article, it was noted that the aircraft's registration showed it as being owned by Premier Executive Transport Services, based in Massachusetts, though as of February 2005 it was listed as being owned by Keeler and Tate Management, Reno, Nevada (US). More than 70 other detainees who may have originally been sent to black sites, but were soon delivered by the CIA to intelligence agencies in allied Middle Eastern and Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Morocco, and Egypt. In an effort to staunch the flow of cocaine and other hard drugs from South America to Central America and points north, Coast Guard cutters have been deployed farther and farther . 24, 2022 . So there are these delays that people in the Coast Guard Coast Guard officials I interviewed though really are actually unreasonable, considering that they're near an airport. 200 meter long iceburg floating just off the coast: 03/31/05: 2: Is Obama Bin Laden body Floating in the Ocean? [154], Controversy over the legality and secrecy, Representations by the Bush administration, Information derived from investigative reporting, Amnesty International November 2005 report, The European Parliament's February 14, 2007, report, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Study of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. Whatever happened to Johnny Arcentales? This was in direct opposition to a public legal opinion issued in December 2004 that declared torture "abhorrent". Is there any underground prisons? They were moved from ship to ship, chained to the deck by the ankle, defecated in buckets and threw the waste overboard. According to an article by Duncan Campbell and Richard Norton-Taylor in the Guardian, the US has a series of floating prisons in which people are held and questioned in a law-free regime. The report alleges that at least eight Thai senior officials knew of the secret site. US Slammed for Secret 'Floating Prisons' Jun 2, 2008 5:07 AM CDT. It's out of their control after that, but we're arresting people in international waters, often on foreign boats, thousands of miles from the United States. Through the example set by the worlds most influential nations, fundamental human rights principles stand or fall across the world. apartments under $800 in delaware / innsbrook golf course dress code / secret floating prisons. The Assembly declared that it was established with a high degree of probability that secret detention centres had been operated by the CIA under the High Value Detainee (HVD) program for some years in Poland and Romania. Those are stories that hadn't been told before. [146][147][148] Many Americans I speak with don't believe this could . Next up in 5. The rest of the report remains classified for unpublished reasons.