Amnesty accuses U.S. of violating rights of detainees

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A significant number of the foreign nationals detained in the United States in the months after the September 11 attacks are being deprived of their basic human rights, Amnesty International said, accusations disputed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The organization in its report released Thursday accused the U.S. government of arbitrarily imprisoning the detainees and denying them "the right to humane treatment, to be informed of reasons for detention, to have prompt access to a lawyer, to be able to challenge the lawfulness of the detention, and to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise."

Other violations it listed include prolonged solitary confinement, heavy shackling, and lack of adequate exercise, and it called the high level of secrecy surrounding the detentions "disturbing."

Six months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, more than 300 of the 1,200 people initially detained -- many of whom are immigrants of Muslim or Middle Eastern descent -- remain in the custody of the INS, Amnesty International said.