Hundreds of Terror Suspects Have ‘Disappeared,' Rights Group Says

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Hundreds of suspects connected with the war on terror in Pakistan have "disappeared," and some detainees have been captured by bounty hunters and sold to America, according to Amnesty International.

Some of the terror suspects detained in Pakistan by the country's intelligence services after the September 11, 2001, attacks in America later re-surfaced at Guantanamo Bay, but the whereabouts of others remain unknown, the human-rights pressure group says in the 106-page report released today.

Lawyers representing suspects in the Pakistani city of Peshawar said their clients often spent years in the custody of the Pakistani security agency before being passed onto regular prisons.

"Many of the foreigners had been picked up using the lame excuse of ‘the war on terror,'" Javed Ibrahim Paracha, who lobbies for the release of terror suspect prisoners, said. "They are only charged for staying illegally in Pakistan under the Foreigners Act and are detained for years without trial."

The report claims that detainees have been sold into American hands by bounty hunters who have received cash payments of around $4700 in return.

The bounty hunters range from local tribesmen to security officials and people out to settle local scores.

But the issue is murky. One former Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo claimed that fellow Arab inmates believed one of Pakistan's numerous militant groups had joined the bounty hunt and was responsible for their capture.

Amnesty International has demanded that President Musharraf of Pakistan end arbitrary detention and publish a list of all places of detention as well as a register of all detainees.