Terror suspects held by CIA to be transferred to Guantanamo [+video]

Bush defended Guantanamo Bay, where 445 people are held. Picture / Reuters

WASHINGTON - The US has announced that it is to transfer 14 suspects held in secret by the CIA to the military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay to face prosecution, and outlined an overhaul of the rules for the treatment of prisoners.

Among the 14 to be transferred are: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, thought to be al Qaeda's third ranking figure until his 2003 capture in Pakistan; Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, originally intended to be an 11 September hijacker and Abu Zubaydah, an al Qaeda organiser seized in Pakistan in 2002.

The move was announced yesterday by President George Bush in one of several speeches ahead of Monday's fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Information from Zubaydah, Mr Bush said, had enabled a string of breakthroughs that foiled terrorist plots in the US, Britain and Asia.

"Terrorists held in CIA custody have also provided information that helped stop a planned strike on US Marines at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti - they were going to use an explosive laden water
tanker," he said.

"They helped stop a planned attack on the US consulate in Karachi
using car bombs and motorcycle bombs, and they helped stop a plot to hijack passenger planes and fly them into Heathrow or the Canary Wharf in London."

At Guantanamo, Mr Bush said, the prisoners would be "treated with the humanity they denied others".

The Red Cross was being informed of the US plans, Mr Bush said.

He also set out a new administration policy for the trial of detainees, after the Supreme Court threw out the system of military tribunals last summer, deeming these to be in violation of US and international law.

In doing so, the President in effect acknowledged the existence of secret CIA camps for terror suspects, on which the White House had been silent.

Allegations about the camps, two of them said to be in eastern Europe, caused global uproar when they originally surfaced in late 2005.

But he defended Guantanamo Bay, where some 445 people are held.

Many countries had refused to take back their nationals, Mr Bush said. Nor were the detainees common criminals or bystanders swept up by accident. They were terrorists, "in custody so they cannot murder our people".

He was also unapologetic over the methods used by the CIA, accused by critics of operating beyond the law or any accountability.

The CIA had used "alternative" arrangements to interrogate Zubaydah, Mr Bush said. But these were vetted and deemed to be lawful by the Justice Department.

"The United States does not torture," the President said.

The interrogation rules were unveiled by the Pentagon, in a revised army field manual that bars many controversial techniques.

These include the use of dogs to terrify prisoners, forced nudity and sexual acts, the use of hoods and tape, and so-called "waterboarding" - a procedure that creates the sensation of drowning.

The manual, whose publication has been delayed for a year amid administration wrangling, is designed to draw a line under the row over conditions at Guantanamo Bay, and the scandal over the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Although they apply to all branches of the military, the regulations do not formally cover the CIA. Nor of themselves do they signify an end to the secret prisons.

But the implication of the announcements by the Pentagon and Mr Bush is that the updated rules will apply to CIA-held prisoners.

The Pentagon also released a separate directive on detention policy, stating that the treatment of prisoners must abide by the Geneva Conventions.

- INDEPENDENT