No torture? Then why are we hiding these prisoners from the Red Cross?

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US bars access to terror suspects

The US has admitted for the first time that it has not given the Red Cross access to all detainees in its custody.

The state department's top legal adviser, John Bellinger, made the admission but gave no details about where such prisoners were held.

Bellinger made the admission in Geneva. He stated that the group International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had access to "absolutely everybody" at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which holds suspects detained during the US war on terror.

When asked by journalists if the organisation had access to everybody held in similar circumstances elsewhere, he said: "No". He declined to explain further.

ICRC spokesman: "We would like to obtain information and access to them." Human rights groups say there is no way of knowing whether detainees being held in secret are being tortured.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4512192.stm