US News
ABC: Bush to announce al-Qaeda suspects to get Geneva protections
By DPA
Sep 6, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - US President George W Bush will announced on Wednesday that al-Qaeda suspects who have been held in secret CIA prisons will be transferred to the Pentagon's control and receive Geneva Conventions protections, ABC News reported.

Bush was due to give a speech Wednesday afternoon outlining the new plan. The US government has never previously acknowledged the existence of secret prisons.

The Pentagon on Wednesday issued new rules stating that all prisoners should be granted protections under the Geneva Conventions, a major shift of policy for the Bush administration.

Bush has been under international pressure and has faced severe criticism for holding detainees indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Outrage grew when the Washington Post reported last year that the CIA was operating secret prisons in Europe.

The new rules will also apply to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks who was captured in Pakistan in March 2003, and senior al-Qaeda leader Ramzi Binalshibh.

The US government for years has refused to say where the two men are being held.