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Bush 'to transfer terror figures' Bush admits to CIA secret prisons
(about 1 hour later)
US President Bush is to announce that 14 foreign terrorism suspects are to be transferred from CIA custody to the department of defence, reports say. President Bush has acknowledged the existence of secret CIA prisons and said 14 key terrorist suspects have now been sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
A senior government official said they would be transferred to the jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ahead of planned future trials. The suspects, who include the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have now been moved out of CIA custody and will face trial.
Mr Bush is to make a speech soon from the White House on the detainees. Mr Bush defended as "vital" the CIA's interrogation programme, but denied the use of torture.
The suspects are thought to include the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He said all suspects will be afforded protection under the Geneva Convention.
Another is suspected senior al-Qaeda figure Ramzi Binalshibh. In a televised address alongside families of those killed in the 11 September 2001 attacks, Mr Bush said there were now no terrorist suspects under the CIA programme.
They will be afforded protection under the Geneva Convention, the US official said. Key suspects Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh
Mr Bush said he was making a limited disclosure of the CIA programme because interrogation of the men it held was now complete and because a US Supreme Court decision had stopped the use of military commissions for trials.
The president made a detailed list of how CIA interrogations of suspects had led to captures of further prisoners.
He said the CIA had used an "alternative set of procedures" agreed with the justice department once suspects had stopped talking.
But he said: "The US does not torture. I have not authorised it and I will not."
Mr Bush also said he was asking Congress to pass urgent legislation clarifying those fighting the war on terror and to make it explicit that US personnel were fulfilling their obligations under the Geneva Convention.
He said Congress must make it clear that the terror suspects could not use US courts to sue US personnel.
Mr Bush said those questioning suspected terrorists must be able to use everything under the law to save US lives.
Revised guidelinesRevised guidelines
Mr Bush will be making his speech alongside families of those killed in the 11 September 2001 attacks.
His expected announcement will mark the first direct acknowledgement that the CIA has prisons - an issue that has created tension with some European allies.
The US administration has faced criticism from legal experts and human rights activists over the policy on detentions of terrorism suspects.The US administration has faced criticism from legal experts and human rights activists over the policy on detentions of terrorism suspects.
Ahead of Mr Bush's speech, the Pentagon released revised guidelines on the treatment of detainees. The Pentagon has also released revised guidelines on the treatment of detainees.
They bring all detainees under the protection of the Geneva Conventions and ban certain controversial interrogation techniques.They bring all detainees under the protection of the Geneva Conventions and ban certain controversial interrogation techniques.
The guidelines specifically forbid all torture, the use of dogs to intimidate prisoners, water boarding - the practice of submerging prisoners in water - any kind of sexual humiliation, and many other interrogation techniques.The guidelines specifically forbid all torture, the use of dogs to intimidate prisoners, water boarding - the practice of submerging prisoners in water - any kind of sexual humiliation, and many other interrogation techniques.
The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says that in one stroke the Pentagon is moving to defuse all criticism of the way it treats the people it has captured in its war against terrorism.The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says that in one stroke the Pentagon is moving to defuse all criticism of the way it treats the people it has captured in its war against terrorism.