The US military has been improperly holding a suspected Iraqi terrorist in a prison near Baghdad for more than seven months without informing the Red Cross, the Pentagon said today.
Defense officials confirmed that Defense Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld ordered military officials to hold the suspected member of the Ansar al-Islam guerrilla group last November at the request of then-CIA director Mr George Tenet without telling the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Pentagon spokesman Mr Bryan Whitman said the US was now moving to end the shadowy status of the man, who was not identified, and allow access to him by the ICRC.
Both assigning a prisoner number and notifying the Red Cross are required under the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian laws.
"I will acknowledge that the ICRC should have been notified about this prisoner earlier," Whitman said. "He will be assigned an identification number and, if appropriate, moved into the general prison population."
The report came as the US continued to conduct a major investigation into the abuse, including sexual humiliation, of prisoners by the US military in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
US Defense Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld
Defense officials confirmed that Defense Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld ordered military officials to hold the suspected member of the Ansar al-Islam guerrilla group last November at the request of then-CIA director Mr George Tenet without telling the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Pentagon spokesman Mr Bryan Whitman said the US was now moving to end the shadowy status of the man, who was not identified, and allow access to him by the ICRC.
Both assigning a prisoner number and notifying the Red Cross are required under the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian laws.
"I will acknowledge that the ICRC should have been notified about this prisoner earlier," Whitman said. "He will be assigned an identification number and, if appropriate, moved into the general prison population."
The report came as the US continued to conduct a major investigation into the abuse, including sexual humiliation, of prisoners by the US military in both Iraq and Afghanistan.