Evidence CIA Has Secret Prisons in Europe
Evidence CIA has secret jails in Europe By Demetri Sevastopulo, Guy Dinmore and Caroline Daniel in Washington, and Jan Cienski in Warsaw November 2 2005 21:55 A leading human rights group on Wednesday identified Poland and Romania as the likely locations in eastern Europe of secret prisons where al-Qaeda suspects are interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency. The existence of the prisons in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several eastern European democracies was reported in Wednesday's Washington Post. Poland's role, if confirmed, would be especially controversial, given that it has recently joined the European Union. Human Rights Watch, a US lobby group, on Wednesday said there was strong evidence -- including the flight records of CIA aircraft transporting prisoners out of Afghanistan -- that Poland and Romania were among countries allowing the agency to operate secret detention centres on their soil. "We have a high degree of confidence that such facilities exist in at least Poland and Romania," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director. If the allegations were confirmed, they would be likely to provoke serious concern in the European Union. Leszek Laszczak, spokesman for the Polish defence ministry, said: "No people suspected of terrorist activities were held in military bases on the territory of the Republic of Poland, either as a result of an agreement with the US government or with any other institutions of the US." A spokeswoman for Traian Basescu, Romanian president, declined to comment. The CIA on Wednesday declined to comment. Stephen Hadley, President George W. Bush's national security adviser, said: "We do what is necessary to defend the country against terrorist attacks and win the war on terror in ways that is consistent with our values." "The fact that [the alleged prisons] are secret, assuming there are such sites . . . some people say the test of your principles is what you do when no-one is looking. The president has insisted that whether in public or private, the same principles will apply." The Washington Post did not name the European countries at the request of US officials. Human rights groups have long criticised the CIA's practice of "renditions", whereby captives are returned to countries, including those accused by the State Department of torture, for continued imprisonment. US military investigations have also criticised the CIA for hiding so-called "ghost detainees" from the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan. The organisation has continued to raise the issue of secret detention centres with Washington but has received no response, the ICRC said. Jakob Kellenberger, ICRC president, first asked the US for notification of arrests and access to undisclosed detention centres in a visit to Washington in January 2004. Antonella Notari, ICRC spokeswoman, said: "We are still hopeful the US will grant notification and access to people they are detaining." Additional reporting by Christopher Condon in Budapest and Andrei Postelnicu in New York http://news.ft.com/cms/s/86734122-4be9-11da-997b-0000779e2340,ft_acl=... -- Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
