Cross. This is considered a war crime under international law. On September 9, 2004, General Paul J. Kern testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, stating that an inquiry he led found that the Army had cooperated with the CIA in hiding dozens of ghost detainees from the Red Cross. Kern told the Committee there may have been as many as 100 ghost detainees. In addition to allegations and reports about ghost detainees in Iraq or East Asian countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, there have been reports that the U.S. had held prisoners in detention centers in some European states. In 2006 the Swiss senator Dick Marty wrote a memorandum on "alleged detention in Council of Europe states." He said the CIA had captured about 100 persons on European territory and subsequently rendered them to countries where they may have been tortured. The BBC reported that this number of 100 extraordinarily rendered persons is in addition to the estimated 100 U.S. ghost detainees. Criticism The practice has been criticized by Amnesty International and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as improper and illegal; it prevents these prisoners from having contact with inspectors and human rights advocates, and the families of the prisoners have to deal with a "forced disappearance". One 2005 report by Amnesty International indicated that more than 100 ghost detainees may have been held in U.S.-operated black sites at the time of publication. In May 2005, Irene Khan of Amnesty International addressed the issue in a speech: According to U.S. official sources there could be over one hundred ghost detainees held by the U.S. In 2004, thousands of people were held by the U.S. in Iraq, hundreds in Afghanistan, and undisclosed numbers in undisclosed locations. AI (Amnesty International) is calling on the U.S. government to "close Guantanamo and disclose the rest." What we mean by this is: either release the prisoners or charge and prosecute them with due process. See also Black jails (China) Nacht und Nebel (Nazi Germany) Black sites Command responsibility "Enemy combatants", a legal status recognized under the Geneva Conventions- concerning prisoners of war and civilians Forced disappearance Extraordinary rendition References External links UN Secret Detention Report Asks, “Where Are The CIA Ghost Prisoners?” Andy Worthington, January 29, 2010 Behind the Wire: An Update to Ending Secret Detentions (2005) , Human Rights First Declassified documents US Department of State FOIA-declassified document collections This collection consists of