AMMAN, April 9 (Reuters) - Jordan has denied allegations in a Human Rights Watch report that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had secretly handed it at least 14 people for interrogation and torture since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Minister of State for Information and Communications Nasser Joudeh said the report "was wrong, untrue and was based on individual allegations and conclusions based on non-objective grounds", Jordanian newspapers reported on Wednesday.
The New York-based rights group said in its report published on Tuesday that Jordan, a close U.S. ally, was believed to have held the biggest number of people rendered by the United States.
Human Rights Watch said its 36-page report, "Double Jeopardy: CIA Renditions to Jordan" was based on first hand information from Jordanian former prisoners who were detained with the non-Jordanian suspects.
It said the prisoners rendered to Jordan were believed to comprise at least five Yemenis, three Algerians, two Saudis, a Mauritanian, a Syrian, a Tunisian and one or more Chechens.
"Jordan is undergoing an intentional slander campaign by members of terrorism groups who were trained to provide rights groups with false information to undermine anti-terrorism efforts," Joudeh said.
Jordan denies any systematic violation of prisoners' rights. Human Rights Watch said last year that beatings of inmates in its jails were rampant. (Reporting by Dina Al Wakeel)


