Black sites are clandestine detention centers operated by a state where prisoners who have not been charged with a crime are incarcerated without due process or court order, are often mistreated and murdered, and have no recourse to bail.[1][2][3]
Several clandestine detention centres operated in Argentina during the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983. Prisoners, many of whom had been "disappeared", were tortured and murdered, including pregnant women who were killed after giving birth, and their babies given to military families.[4]
Black sites are widespread within China and a Chinese black site has been alleged to exist in Dubai by a former detainee.[2] Black sites in China are also known as "black jails".[5]
Black sites are used extensively by the Egyptian security services. During the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) hundreds of protesters alleged that torture occurred at these black sites. The Egyptian security service also operated black sites involved with the CIA's counter-terror black site program.[6]
Rights groups have documented abuse in clandestine detention centers. Sources cited by CNN noted in 2023 that black-site torture appeared to increase during the Mahsa Amini protests.[7]
During the Israel-Hamas war, Gazan detainees were reportedly transported from Gaza to Sde Teiman, a military base used as a black field. Severe violence, abuse, and in some cases deaths have been reported.[8]
AEuropean Union (EU) report adopted on February 14, 2007, by a majority of the European Parliament (382 MEPs voting in favor, 256 against and 74 abstaining) stated the CIA operated 1,245 flights and that it was not possible to contradict evidence or suggestions that secret detention centers where prisoners have been tortured were operated in Poland and Romania.[3][16] After denying the fact for years, Poland confirmed in 2014 that it has hosted black sites.[17]
In January 2012, Poland's Prosecutor General's office initiated investigative proceedings against Zbigniew Siemiątkowski, the former Polish intelligence chief. Siemiątkowski was charged with facilitating the alleged CIA detention operation in Poland, where foreign suspects may have been tortured in the context of the War on Terror. The involvement of Leszek Miller, Poland's Prime Minister from 2001 to 2004, is also considered possible.[18][19]
Media related to Black sites at Wikimedia Commons
