'Floating prisoners' — a world challenge

June 14, 2008

'Floating prisoners' — a world challenge

Reprieve, a UK-based group offering legal help to prisoners deemed to have been denied justice, has reported that the US is using as many as 17 American warships as floating prisons to hold detainees in the "war on terror."
The first report of the "floating prisons" came in June 2005 the UN's special rapporteur on terrorism. The updated Reprieve report includes descriptions of detentions at sea from not only those released from the US detention camp in Guantánamo — who were held during and immediately after the US military action in Afghanistan — but also those who were held more recently on US warships, particularly in the Horn of Africa.
The legal group also reports that the US is continuing the practice of "rendition" — the apprehension and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another without any legal reference — despite a 2006 declaration by President George W Bush of an end to it.
According to Reprieve, the "floating prisoners" are interrogated under torturous conditions before being rendered to other, often undisclosed locations. "Details regarding the operation of prison ships have emerged through a number of sources, including the US military and other administration officials, the Council of Europe, various parliamentary bodies and journalists, as well as the testimonies of prisoners themselves," says Reprieve.
According to Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve’s director, “the US administration chooses ships to try to keep their misconduct as far as possible from the prying eyes of the media and lawyers."
The US government has admitted that it is currently detaining at least 26,000 people without trial in secret prisons. For all practical and technical purposes, it is determined to deny them any legal recourse and the families of many of the detainees believe them to be dead because of their long absence after unexplained disappearance.
The "floating prisons" are yet another example of the Bush administration's disrespect for international law, particularly the Third Geneva Convention states that "prisoners of war may be interned only in premises located on land." But then, the Bush administration does not have a record of respecting international laws and conventions.
Such practices as summary detention and torture while denying justice to detainees are salient features of the Bush administration, which seemed to have been waiting for an event like the Sept.11 attacks to bare its teeth and unleash a campaign devoid of respect for human rights.
Reprieve is expected to release a detailed report on detentions on warships for which there is no legal precedent for for federal courts exercising jurisdiction. While the expected report would be of a source of authentic information on US practices in its self-declared "war on terror," it is unlikely to make any real difference to those held in the "floating prisons" unless the international community takes it upon itself to put an end to such practices if only not to allow other governments feel encouraged to follow suit.