Bush to announce transfer of CIA detainees: ABC

President Bush will announce that about a dozen key foreign terrorism suspects held at secret CIA prisons will be transferred to Department of Defense custody and granted protection under the Geneva Conventions, ABC News reported on Wednesday.

The U.S. network said the change would apply to all prisoners held by the CIA, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks and senior al Qaeda leader Ramzi Binalshibh.

Quoting an unnamed source familiar with the president’s announcement, ABC said there were “about a dozen” prisoners now held by the CIA.

Up to now, the U.S. government has not officially acknowledged the existence of the CIA prisons, which were revealed by The Washington Post last year, sparking international criticism of the Bush administration.

The White House has been condemned for its handling of detainees captured in the U.S.-led military campaign to root out al Qaeda terror cells abroad, including those held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, an outspoken critic of administration policy on detainees, told reporters he was briefed about the change late on Tuesday.

Asked whether high value prisoners in CIA prisons would get the same protections as other prisoners, McCain said: “I believe that’s what’s going to happen.”

The Geneva Conventions are a series of international agreements cover the treatment of prisoners of war.

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