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Behind the Wire: An Update to Ending
Secret Detentions

Behind the Wire, an update to Human Rights First’s Ending Secret Detentions, released in June 2004, assesses the nature and scope of the United States’ worldwide military and intelligence detention system. While identifying a few positive developments, the report finds that the number of detentions worldwide is on the rise, as is secrecy regarding the system overall. The report also unearths a previously undisclosed detention facility in Peshawar, Pakistan. In the end, the report concludes, the scrutiny into military detentions over the past nine months, by U.S. courts and Pentagon investigations, has still failed to produce full answers to many of the most basic questions regarding the U.S. military and intelligence detention system: the location of U.S. detention facilities, how many are held within them, on what legal basis they are held, and who has access to the prisoners.

Human Rights First has called on the United States to end secret detentions and to grant the International Committee for the Red Cross full and immediate access to all individuals in U.S. custody. These steps are consistent with legitimate national security interests and make clear the United States’ ongoing commitment to human rights, open democracy, and the rule of law.