O 231422Z JUL 04FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDADTO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0333C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000230SUBJECT: USEB 146: ICRC DELIVERS COPIES OF TWOLETTERS REGARDING DETAINEE TREATMENT TO EMBASSYBAGHDAD
REF: (A) ICRC letter BAG 04/747, (B) ICRC letterBAG 04/748.(U) CLASSIFIED BY POL-MIL COUNSELOR RONALD E.NEUMANN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).¶1. (C) SUMMARY. On June 20, 2004, InternationalCommittee for the Red Cross (ICRC) Baghdad Head ofDelegation Christophe Beney delivered copies of twoletters (Refs A and B) to Pol-Mil MinisterAmbassador Neumann. Both letters were labeled"Confidential." Both were addressed to GeneralGeorge W. Casey, Commanding General of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), and copied toAmbassador Negroponte.¶2. (C) The text of both letters, which detail ICRCconcerns regarding MNF-I detainee procedures, isreproduced below. The first letter (Ref A) concernstwo Pakistani ICRC interviewees who informed ICRCthat they had been transferred to Afghanistan fromIraq while in Coalition custody, in violation of
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Thesecond letter (Ref B) concerns ICRC objections tothe Coalition's provision of timely informationregarding detentions and detainees to ICRCofficials. END SUMMARY.¶3. (C) International Committee for the Red Cross(ICRC) Baghdad Head of Delegation Christophe Beneydelivered copies of two letters (Refs A and B) toPol-Mil Minister Ambassador Neumann. Both lettersare dated July 20, 2004. Both are addressed to Gen.George W. Casey, Commanding General, MNF-I, andboth are copied to Ambassador Negroponte and MajorGeneral Geoffrey Miller, Deputy Commanding Generalfor Detainee Operations, MNF-I.¶4. (C) Begin text of Ref A.The International Committee for the Red Cross(ICRC) would like to submit to your attentionthe following issue of great concern.During an ICRC visit to Camp Bagram CollectionPoint (BCP) in Afghanistan on 24 to 28 May,2004, the ICRC met two Pakistani internees whoclaimed to have been arrested in Iraq at the endof February 2004. These individuals, whoidentified themselves respectively as Amanullahand Salah Mohammad Ali Al-Hayyan, were allegedlyarrested in Baghdad by U.S. forces. They claimedto have been detained for approximately onemonth in Iraq, presumably in Abu Ghraib, priorto their transfer to BCP at the end of March.
During private interviews with other interneesat the time of the 24 to 28 May visit to BCP,the ICRC also received allegations of thedetention in Afghanistan of two other personswho had been arrested in Iraq. The concernedindividuals were identified to the ICRC as:Abdallah, Saudi, and Hossam, Yemeni, botharrested in March 2004 in Fallujah. Both wereallegedly transferred from Iraq to anundisclosed place of detention run by U.S.services in Afghanistan, a place of detention towhich ICRC has not been granted access. Bothinternees were allegedly transferred out of thisplace to an unknown destination in April 2004.In addition, these four individuals were neithernotified to the ICRC in Iraq nor met by theICRC during the course of its visits there.The ICRC would like to emphasize that Article 49of the Fourth Geneva Convention (GC IV)prohibits forcible transfers of protectedpersons from occupied territory to the territoryof the Occupying Power or to that of any othercountry regardless of their motive. Theviolation of Article 49 constitutes a gravebreach of the GC IV, as provided in Article 147GC IV. The ICRC therefore calls upon U.S.authorities to investigate the circumstances inwhich this violation could have occurred and totake the necessary measures as required byArticle 146 GC IV.The ICRC is deeply concerned for the welfare ofinternees transferred out of Iraq and recallsits request to be notified in a timely manner ofall arrests made there. The ICRC furtherrequests to be informed of the whereabouts of
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Cable 632 ICRC Protests Secret Transfer of Iraq Detainees to Afghanistan
This is a 2004 US embassy report containing the text of a formal protest by the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the secret transfer of detainees captured in Iraq to US detention facilities in Afghanistan.
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