Buzz
Investigative reports from leading media organizations and human rights advocates reveal that the US Central Intelligence Agency runs a network of undisclosed facilities worldwide. These so-called 'black sites' are allegedly used to detain individuals, often referred to as 'ghost prisoners,' who are held without formal charges or access to legal representation.
Detainees in these facilities are reportedly subjected to what the CIA terms 'enhanced interrogation techniques,' widely condemned as torture. These methods are said to include waterboarding, prolonged sleep deprivation, degrading treatment, physical assaults, electric shocks, and other severe forms of abuse.
Scattered across the globe, these clandestine prisons are arguably some of the most horrifying locations known to exist.
10. Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean
Situated in the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia is an atoll approximately 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) south of India and 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) east of Tanzania. This location is officially recognized by the United Kingdom as part of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the UK forcibly relocated the indigenous population of Diego Garcia to Mauritius and the Seychelles. This was done to facilitate the construction of a massive naval and military base by the United States, now referred to as Camp Thunder Cove. Today, the base accommodates around 4,000 military staff and private contractors.
Despite the UK's persistent denial of holding 'ghost prisoners' at Diego Garcia, Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, disclosed in a 2015 Vice News interview that terrorism suspects were secretly transported to the atoll for intensive interrogations. Wilkerson confirmed that the CIA carried out these operations shortly after the September 11 attacks.
9. Temara Interrogation Center, Morocco
Located in a forest approximately 14 kilometers (9 miles) from Rabat, Morocco, the Temara Interrogation Center is managed by the Directorate for the Surveillance of the Territory (DST), a Moroccan government agency.
In 2003, the UN Committee against Torture reviewed Morocco's human rights record, considering evidence from both the Moroccan government and Amnesty International. While acknowledging overall improvements in human rights, the committee noted a rise in reported torture incidents within the North African country.
Amnesty International reported in 2004 that the DST frequently and blatantly violates human rights, with many abuses taking place at Temara. According to the report, Moroccan interrogators at Temara subjected detainees to beatings, humiliation, electric shocks, burns, and waterboarding. The alleged purpose of these actions was to force confessions, extract information, or coerce detainees into signing or thumbprinting statements, often without their understanding of the content.
In 2010, the Associated Press revealed that multiple US officials acknowledged the facility was run by Moroccans but funded by the CIA. Despite this, Morocco officially denies the facility's existence.
8. Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport, Romania
Situated near the Black Sea coast, Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport serves as the primary airport for Romania's southern Dobrogea region, close to popular tourist destinations. In 2015, the airport handled 2,227 flights, accommodating over 63,000 passengers. However, allegations suggest that some of these flights were used to transport ghost prisoners to and from a covert detention center located on the airport grounds.
Romania asserts that Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport serves solely as a transit hub for CIA prisoners, not for detention or interrogation purposes. However, in 2008, USA Today cited an anonymous Romanian official who alleged that three buildings in the military section of the airport were restricted to Romanian officials but were regularly accessed by US agents.
Further evidence of the airport's involvement in CIA detentions emerged in 2010 when Der Spiegel revealed that Switzerland's Onyx satellite surveillance system intercepted a fax between an Egyptian foreign minister and his London ambassador. The communication detailed the holding of 23 Iraqi and Afghan detainees at the airport.
7. Detention Site Green, Thailand
Thailand denies the presence of any black sites within its borders, despite numerous reports referencing the enigmatic Detention Site Green. Speculations suggest it may be situated near Bangkok or in the northern province of Udon Thani.
In 2009, The Guardian reported that the CIA admitted to destroying 92 tapes of interrogations with terror suspects, recorded at an undisclosed location in Thailand. The article also suggested that Site Green served as a testing ground where the CIA refined waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation methods, later employed at larger European facilities established by the agency.
Among the CIA's test subjects was Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi national apprehended in Pakistan in 2002. Zubaydah reportedly endured extreme waterboarding, with bubbles emerging from his mouth. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of orchestrating the USS Cole bombings, was also allegedly detained at Site Green, where he faced waterboarding and threats of sexual assault.
6. Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti
Djibouti holds significant strategic importance for the US military, largely because of its proximity to high-risk areas like Somalia, Yemen, and the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden. Situated at Djibouti’s Ambouli International Airport is Camp Lemonnier, a US Naval Expeditionary Base. Officially, it hosts the Combined Joint Task Force—Horn of Africa, a combat unit deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom, also known as The War on Terror.
Unofficially, a 2014 Al Jazeera America report claimed that Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti also functioned as a CIA black site, where numerous suspects were secretly held, interrogated, and subjected to torture. The report further noted that the site remained operational as late as 2012 under the Obama administration, despite the President’s 2009 executive order prohibiting the CIA’s use of black sites.
In 2015, The Intercept published aerial images of Camp Lemonnier, highlighting the base’s continuous expansion. The site serves as a critical launchpad for Reaper and Predator drones.
5. Antaviliai, Lithuania
Located less than 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, lies a former riding school in the village of Antaviliai. According to The Washington Post, the CIA repurposed this facility into a detention center in 2004. The site reportedly housed and interrogated Al-Qaeda suspects captured in Afghanistan.
In 2004, Elite LLC, a company based in Washington, DC, acquired the property. Locals observed US contractors excavating the area, presumably constructing an underground facility beneath the main structure. In 2009, anonymous former intelligence officials informed ABC News that the Antaviliai site operated for over a year, detaining at least eight suspected terrorists. Elite LLC sold the property to the Lithuanian government in 2007 and subsequently vanished. Today, the site is used for training Lithuania’s state security personnel.
4. USS Ashland, Various Locations
In 2008, The Guardian revealed that Reprieve, a human rights organization, accused the US of detaining over 26,000 individuals in covert prisons. Reprieve also uncovered evidence of a global network of “floating prisons” operated by the US, involving at least 17 warships functioning as secret CIA black sites.
One such vessel is the USS Ashland, a Whidbey Island–class dock landing ship weighing 16,000 tons and stretching 186 meters (610 feet). The ship accommodates 500 US Marines. Reprieve alleges that the Ashland played a role in abductions conducted by Somali, Kenyan, and Ethiopian forces around 2007. The Guardian also reported that the US previously acknowledged using the USS Bataan and USS Peleliu as prison ships between 2001 and 2002.
John Walker Lindh, famously known as The American Taliban, is among the most notable detainees transported aboard the US’s clandestine prison fleet.
3. Camp Eagle, Bosnia and Herzegovina
In 2005, two Bosnian men, Nihad Karsic and Almin Harbeus, shared their harrowing experiences at Camp Eagle, located near Tuzla and close to the Bosnian-Serbian border, with Bosnia’s public broadcaster BHTV. Both recounted being forcibly taken by Bosnian soldiers, who accused them of terrorism.
At Camp Eagle, a repurposed Yugoslavian air base, the men alleged they were subjected to beatings and harassment by soldiers before being interrogated by Americans dressed in civilian clothes. They were eventually released with $500 in compensation but were warned not to disclose their experiences publicly.
A 2006 BBC report highlighted a Swiss investigation identifying Bosnia as one of several nations that collaborated with the CIA to secretly detain suspected terrorists. Other countries mentioned included Italy, Sweden, and Macedonia. The report also listed Spain, Turkey, Germany, and Cyprus as “staging posts,” while the UK, Portugal, Ireland, and Greece were described as “stop-off points” for detainees en route to black sites like Camp Eagle.
2. The Salt Pit, Afghanistan
The Salt Pit, also referred to as Cobalt, is a repurposed brick factory situated north of Kabul, Afghanistan. In 2002, the CIA transformed it into a detention center, allocating over $200,000 for its development.
In 2012, The Daily Beast labeled the Salt Pit as “the CIA’s Sadistic Dungeon” in an article investigating a notorious death at the facility. On November 20, 2002, Gul Rahman succumbed to hypothermia after being brutally beaten, stripped naked, and shackled to the floor during a freezing night.
A 2014 declassified US Senate Report on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program revealed that no CIA personnel faced charges for Rahman’s death. Instead, five months later, the lead CIA officer responsible for his chaining received a $2,500 bonus for “consistently superior work.”
Nearly half of the 119 detainees mentioned in the US Senate Report on torture were held at the Salt Pit.
1. Stare Kiejkuty, Poland
Stare Kiejkuty, a restricted military zone in northeastern Poland, served as a Nazi SS outpost during World War II. By the 1970s, Polish intelligence operatives utilized the site, which was misleadingly labeled as a holiday resort on maps.
In 2008, a Polish intelligence insider disclosed to the BBC that Stare Kiejkuty’s facilities were employed by the CIA to hold and question “high-value detainees.” The report highlighted that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, was interrogated there, among other locations.
In 2014, former Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski admitted to authorizing agreements with the US, permitting the CIA to run black sites in Poland during his presidency from 1995 to 2005. Kwasniewski claimed a US memorandum assured him detainees would be treated as prisoners of war, with corresponding international rights. However, BBC sources suggested the president was likely unaware of the true activities at Stare Kiejkuty.
