US is Holding 39 in Secret Prisons, Rights Groups Say

A report published on Thursday says that the CIA is holding at least 39 detainees in secret prisons.

Human rights organizations Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Human Rights Watch are among six organizations who contributed to the report.

According to Jurist, a legal news and research publication by University of Pittsburg School of Law, the report has named three detainees from Pakistan, Libya and Saudi Arabia. The United States has said officially that it has detained these individuals but has not public their present location or whether they are still alive.

The three detainees, Pakistani Hassan Ghul, Saudi Ali Abu al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi, and Libyan Ali Abdul-Hamid al-Fakhiri are named in a list titled "Terrorists No Longer a Threat." The United States Congressional Record has this list.

While the location of secret prisons remains unknown to the public, the EU Parliament has severely criticized nations like Austria, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark and Turkey for helping the CIA in establishing the secret prison.

The Washington Post, writing about this report, quotes a reaction from CIA's spokesman Paul Gimigliano, as "The United States does not conduct or condone torture." He is also reported as saying that the CIA operates based on US law and that their counter terrorism methods have been proven effective.

Case of 15-year-old boy in Guantanamo Bay

Omar Khadr, a Canadian, was just 15 when he was captured by the US forces in Afghanistan in 2002. He is 20 years old now and is a prisoner at the infamous Guantanamo Bay.