Policies on Terrorism Suspects Come Under Fire

Human rights groups said the al Qaeda prisoners should be brought to trial, rather than held indefinitely in covert prisons in which they have no recognized legal rights. "We think these people should be prosecuted and punished fully for the murders of thousands of people," said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. "What is really clear is that this is a dead-end policy and they are close to the dead end."

John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has been pushing for more than a year to conduct a review of the CIA's interrogation and detention practices. Yesterday, he lashed out at the administration for not being more forthcoming.

"They have made it clear that anyone who suggests that oversight is needed should be labeled as unpatriotic," he said.

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said he had heard allegations of secret detention facilities sponsored by the United States, but had not heard of any in Eastern Europe before yesterday.

"Every secret place of detention is usually a higher risk for ill treatment, that's the danger of secrecy," Nowak said in a telephone interview from Austria, adding that he wants to pursue access to all U.S. detention facilities outside its territory.

Nowak and his predecessor have been trying to gain access to the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay since it opened in early 2002.

Last week, the Bush administration invited U.N. experts to Guantanamo but offered a one-day visit with no ability to talk to detainees. Nowak said he would not accept because a "guided tour" would not allow him to probe allegations of abuse.

"I have many allegations that detainees have been abused while in Guantanamo," he said. "If I didn't have plenty of allegations, I wouldn't bother the United States government with trying to visit."

A senior U.S. official, speaking anonymously yesterday, said the administration is unlikely to budge: "The offer they have is the final offer. We are not prepared to open Guantanamo up to just anyone who wants to come in and talk to detainees."

Staff writers R. Jeffrey Smith and Jonathan Weisman and researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.