Friday, May 12, 2006

Rice, Rumsfeld Block Red Cross Access to Secret Detainees

No surprise here.

Just disgusting...

Rice, Rumsfeld Block Red Cross Access to Secret Detainees:

"Geneva - The United States has again refused the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to terrorism suspects held in secret detention centers, the humanitarian agency said on Friday.

The overnight statement was issued after talks in Washington between ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger and senior officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

'Mr. Kellenberger deplored the fact that the U.S. authorities had not moved closer to granting the ICRC access to persons held in undisclosed locations,' the Geneva-based agency said.
Kellenberger said: 'No matter how legitimate the grounds for detention, there exists no right to conceal a person's whereabouts or to deny that he or she is being detained.'

The former senior Swiss diplomat said that the ICRC would continue to seek access to such people as a matter of priority."

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