European secret services helped CIA terror transfers
2006-06-27

Nations Cyprus Macedonia Bosnia Algeria Turkey Portugal Ireland Poland Romania Italy Germany Sweden U.K. Egypt Greece Spain Event CIA Prison Scandal

European secret services colluded in the detention and secret transfer of terrorist suspects in or across the continent, the author of a key report on the CIA rendition flights said.

Dick Marty, a Swiss parliamentarian who compiled the report for the Council of Europe rights watchdog, said there was no doubt of collaboration.

After formally receiving the report, the pan-European body's parliamentary assembly adopted a resolution noting the "spider's web" of disappearances and unlawful inter-state transfers.

It said countries knowingly helped the United States in illegal operations or turned a blind eye, and had done their best to ensure the details remained secret.

The resolution also urged European nations to examine bilateral agreements with the United States, especially if they hosted US military bases, to ensure they conformed to human rights standards.

"It has been proved that agents from national intelligence services colluded in the handing over and the transportation of persons suspected of terrorism," Marty told the assembly.

Questioned at a news conference afterward, Marty singled out Bosnia, whose government admitted to the inquiry that it had handed six suspects of Algerian origin into US hands in January 2002.

He also pointed to Italian complicity in the February 2003 abduction of the former imam of a Milan mosque, Osama Mustafa Hassan -- also known as Abu Omar -- who was flown to Egypt where he alleged he was tortured.

In that case, Italian prosecutors hope to put 22 alleged CIA operatives on trial in absentia before the end of the year.

The United States has criticised Marty's report -- published on June 7 but presented Tuesday to the Council of Europe -- as listing unproven allegations, insisting it has done nothing wrong and that renditions are perfectly legal.

The report said 14 European states had colluded in or tolerated the secret transfer of terrorist suspects by the United States.

It named Bosnia-Hercegovina, Britain, Italy, Macedonia, Germany, Sweden and Turkey as "responsible, at varying degrees ... for violations of the rights of specific persons."

Seven other countries -- Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain -- were also guilty of collusion, it added.

The resolution said the cooperation had "spawned a system that is utterly incompatible with the fundamental principles of the Council of Europe."

"We must have a judicial world order with our friends and allies the United States, but it must be based on values led, in particular, by the Council of Europe," Marty said.

Franco Frattini, vice president of the European Commission, admitted there was little that could be done on a European basis about individual countries' secret services.

Nevertherless, "we must clarify in stricter detail what should be allowed or not," he added.

Reacting to the report, human rights groups urged nations involved to stop helping with renditions and to press the United States to halt the practice.

"European governments should be ashamed of their participation in illegal detentions and they must end their involvement at once," said Joanne Mariner, of Human Rights Watch.

In a statement, the groups, which included Amnesty International, demanded independent public inquiries to probe government involvement in renditions and secret transfers.

They listed 12 recommendations, including beefed-up legislation protecting human rights; changing aviation policy so that aircraft cannot carry prisoners through a state without authorisation; and a pledge not to return suspects to countries where they may face torture even if there are diplomatic assurances they would not be mistreated.

The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, which is separate from the European Union, was set up after World War II to promote democracy and human rights. It has 46 member states.