Brussels, 03/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - According to research published in Wednesday's Washington Post, the US secret services (the CIA) has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al-Qaeda captives in secret prisons. More than two dozen people suspected of being connected with the Al-Qaeda network have been secretly held in eight countries, including Thailand (which has denied the reports), Afghanistan, at the US airbase at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and in Eastern European democracies. As requested by the US, the article's author has pledged not to reveal which European countries these are. The existence of such secret prisons is suspected in countries of Eastern Europe which joined the US in sending troops to Iraq (Hungary, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria). The Washington Post reports that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) set up the prison network following the 11 September 2001 attacks. The existence and location of the prisons is reported to be of knowledge to no more than a handful of people in the United States, including the President. The prisons are reportedly funded and directly managed by CIA staff. The CIA and the United States are refusing to confirm whether such secret prisons exist.