The Red Cross said today it is fearful that the U.S. is hiding detainees in secret places and not granting access to them.

"We have access to people detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq, but in our understanding there are people that are detained outside these places for which we haven't received notification or access," said Antonella Notari, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

....Notari told The Associated Press that some suspects reported as arrested by the FBI on its Web site, or identified in media reports, are unaccounted for. "Some of these people who have been reported to be arrested never showed up in any of the places of detention run by the U.S. where we visit," Notari said.

One of the places the Red Cross suspects the U.S. is secretly holding prisoners is the British island of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean.

The Geneva Conventions on the conduct of warfare require the United States to give the Red Cross access to prisoners of war and other detainees.

Update: Check out the June, 2004 Human Rights First Report "Ending Secret Detentions."