US challenged over ‘secret jails’


Amnesty International has said that two Yemeni men claim they were held in secret, underground US jails for more than 18 months without being charged.

The human rights group has called on the US to reveal details of the alleged secret detention of suspects abroad. Amnesty fears the case is part of a “much broader picture” in which the US holds prisoners at secret locations. Both say they were tortured for four days by Jordanian intelligence services.

Alleged methods include being beaten on the feet while bound and suspended upside-down. One of the men claims he was threatened with sexual abuse and electric shocks. Each says he was then flown to an unnamed underground jail, where he was held in solitary confinement for six to eight months with no access to lawyers.

Both claim they were interrogated every day by US guards about their activities in Indonesia and Afghanistan.

For the full BBC article click here. To see the AI press release go here.