The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Thursday that it would visit key terrorism suspects transferred from secret CIA jails to Guantanamo Bay.

The Geneva-based organization said it had received assurances from the United States that the visit would take place under the usual terms and that it would be able to speak to the prisoners in private.

"(The visit) will be next week," said ICRC spokeswoman Antonella Notari. "We were assured that the terms would be in accordance with our standard practices."

The announcement came after Washington acknowledged on Wednesday the existence of secret jails and said that 14 prisoners had been sent to the US-run detention center in Cuba.

In a televised address, President George W. Bush said the suspects, who include the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, had been kept in CIA custody. They are expected to face trial.

The ICRC, which has long been pressing for access to all detainees held in Guantanamo, welcomed the US move. But it said it had no information on where the 14 had previously been held.

"It is a good sign to transfer them out of undisclosed places of detention," Notari said. "It is a good first step."

Washington's surprise move on Wednesday followed previous refusals to admit the existence of secret CIA prisons.

The detention program, which was revealed by the media last year, prompted an international outcry.

Swiss senator Dick Marty is currently in charge of a European investigation into the matter.
 
He said Bush's admission was "just one piece of the truth", but had not come as a surprise to him. "There is more, much more to be revealed by the United States."

The ICRC, which visits prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions on warfare, always demands access to all detainees and to the facilities where they are held, Notari said.

The ICRC insists on meeting each prisoner in private and being able to make repeat visits and relay messages between the prisoners and their families.

(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2006)