Human Rights Watch cites evidence of US complicity in ‘reverse renditions’ News
Human Rights Watch cites evidence of US complicity in ‘reverse renditions’

[JURIST] A Yemeni businessman was captured in Egypt and was secretly held by US authorities for over a year before being sent to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, according to a report Tuesday from Human Rights Watch [advocacy website]. The human rights watchdog group released details [report text] of the previously unreported case of 'Abd al-Salam 'Ali al-Hila, a Yemeni terror suspect initially detained in Cairo by Egyptian authorities in 2002 and currently held at Guantanamo. It says the al-Hila case is new evidence of the practice of foreign authorities picking up non-combatant suspects and handing them over to US authorities, with no protections afforded to the individuals involved. "Al-Hila was essentially kidnapped on the streets of Cairo and then 'disappeared' in US custody," said John Sifton, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. As further evidence of this "reverse renditon" pattern, Human Rights Watch said that six Algerians held in Bosnia were transferred to US officials in January 2002 (despite a Bosnian high court order to release them) and were sent to Guantanamo. Reuters has more.