Black sites are clandestine state-operated detention centers where prisoners who have not been charged with a crime are incarcerated withoutdue process or court order, are often mistreated and murdered, and have no recourse tobail.[1][2][3]
Several clandestine detention centres operated in Argentina during themilitary dictatorship that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983. Prisoners, many of whom had been"disappeared", were tortured and murdered, including pregnant women who were killed after giving birth, and their babies given to military families.[4]
Black sites are widespread withinChina and a Chinese black site has been alleged to exist inDubai by a former detainee.[2] Black sites in China are also known as "black jails".[5]
Black sites are used extensively by theEgyptian security service. During theEgyptian Crisis (2011–2014), hundreds of protesters alleged that torture occurred at these black sites. The Egyptian security service also operated black sites involved with theCIA's counter-terror black site program.[6]
Rights groups have documented abuse in clandestine detention centers in Iran. Sources cited byCNN noted in 2023 that black-site torture appeared to increase during theMahsa Amini protests.[7]
A former black site inIsrael wasCamp 1391, noted as the "IsraeliGuantanamo".
InChechnya,gay men have allegedly been tortured at black sites by theChechen National Guard.[8] Gay men in other parts of Russiahave been kidnapped and transported to sites in Chechnya, where over 100 have been tortured, and some killed.[9] Chechen authorities have thwarted attempts by theRussian LGBT Network to help gay people in Chechnya escape to safe locations in Russia, and inhibited investigations by theRussian Commissioner for Human RightsTatyana Moskalkova. Despite protests in major Russian cities against the situation in Chechnya, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, wanting to maintain good relations with Head of the Chechen RepublicRamzan Kadyrov, has denied that any abuses of homosexuals in Chechnya have occurred. Chechnya is arguably the mosthomophobic area in Russia, with 95% of its population adhering toSunni Islam. It remains the only district of Russia wherehomosexuality is outlawed and punishable with jail time.[10][11]
CIA-controlled black sites have been used by theU.S. government in itswar on terror to detainenemy combatants.[3] U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons operated by the CIA during a speech on September 6, 2006.[12][13] A claim that the black sites existed was made byThe Washington Post in November 2005 and before this byhuman rightsNGOs.[14]
AEuropean Union (EU) report adopted on February 14, 2007, by a majority of theEuropean Parliament (382MEPs voting in favor, 256 against and 74 abstaining) stated the CIA operated 1,245 flights and that it was not possible to contradict evidence or suggestions that secretdetention centers where prisoners have been tortured were operated inPoland andRomania.[3][15] After denying the fact for years, Poland confirmed in 2014 that it has hosted black sites.[16]
In January 2012, Poland'sProsecutor General's office initiated investigative proceedings againstZbigniew Siemiątkowski, the formerPolish intelligence chief. Siemiątkowski was charged with facilitating the alleged CIA detention operation in Poland, where foreign suspects may have been tortured in the context of the war on terror. The involvement ofLeszek Miller, Poland's Prime Minister from 2001 to 2004, is also considered possible.[17][18]
A 2022United Press International story cited former Polish PresidentAleksander Kwaśniewski as admitting in 2014 that his country had provided "a quiet location" for the CIA to operate a black site to torture accused9/11 terrorists.[19]
Media related toBlack sites at Wikimedia Commons