[JURIST] Detainees held in secret prisons operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] throughout the globe were subject to abuse and sleep deprivation, according to a confidential report prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website]. In interviews with former detainees, the ICRC reports that it learned that terror suspects were forced into "stress positions" and subjected to sleep deprivation in attempts by the CIA to gain information from them. According to anonymous US officials, the report is based solely upon interviews with detainees, and has yet to verified.

This is the first independent report to be prepared concerning the CIA prisons. Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on President George W. Bush to account for so-called "ghost prisoners" whose whereabouts and identities have been kept secret since September when Bush acknowledged [JURIST report] the existence of secret CIA prisons. HRW also released a supporting report [text; press release] Tuesday in which a former CIA detainee, Marwan Jabour, recounted his experiences in a secret CIA prison. AP has more.