Post by KC on Nov 29, 2006 20:08:20 GMT -5
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Eleven European Union governments - including Britain, Poland and Germany - knew about secret CIA prisons operating in Europe, a draft European Parliament report concluded Tuesday.
The report presented to the EU assembly's special committee investigating accusations about the detention centers and CIA kidnappings in Europe called on governments to launch their own inquiries to determine whether human rights laws were violated. It criticized top EU officials, including foreign policy chief Javier Solana and anti-terror coordinator Gijs de Vries, of "omissions and denials" during testimony to the committee.
The draft also said there were more than 1,000 CIA flights in the European region.
No EU governments have admitted that the claimed anti-terror operations were carried out on their territory. Governments have been warned by EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini that if they knew about the CIA renditions and secret flights, they could be found in violation of EU law.
While thin on proof to back up its claims, the committee report said it got information from secret documents, several sources in the United States and national authorities in the 25-nation bloc.
"At least 1,245 flights operated by the CIA have flown into the European airspace or stopped over at European airports," the draft said.
Germany topped the list with 336 flight stopovers, while Britain had 170, according to the report. Others include: Ireland, 147; Portugal, 91; Greece, 64; Italy, 47; Cyprus, 57; Romania, 21; Poland, 11.
It said the committee had obtained "serious circumstantial evidence" showing that Poland might have hosted a temporary secret detention center for the CIA.
The British government denies knowing about secret CIA prisons or colluding in a secret program to transfer CIA prisoners.
A Foreign Office spokesman said there was nothing unusual about CIA flights using British airports.
"The U.K. is an international hub for refueling to and from the United States," he said on the government's customary condition of anonymity. "Under the Chicago Convention, we can't investigate the aircraft unless we think that a crime is being committed at that time."
Polish officials in Warsaw also rejected the accusations in the report.
In September, President Bush acknowledged for the first time that terrorism suspects had been held in CIA-run prisons overseas, but did not specify where.
The report presented to the EU assembly's special committee investigating accusations about the detention centers and CIA kidnappings in Europe called on governments to launch their own inquiries to determine whether human rights laws were violated. It criticized top EU officials, including foreign policy chief Javier Solana and anti-terror coordinator Gijs de Vries, of "omissions and denials" during testimony to the committee.
The draft also said there were more than 1,000 CIA flights in the European region.
No EU governments have admitted that the claimed anti-terror operations were carried out on their territory. Governments have been warned by EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini that if they knew about the CIA renditions and secret flights, they could be found in violation of EU law.
While thin on proof to back up its claims, the committee report said it got information from secret documents, several sources in the United States and national authorities in the 25-nation bloc.
"At least 1,245 flights operated by the CIA have flown into the European airspace or stopped over at European airports," the draft said.
Germany topped the list with 336 flight stopovers, while Britain had 170, according to the report. Others include: Ireland, 147; Portugal, 91; Greece, 64; Italy, 47; Cyprus, 57; Romania, 21; Poland, 11.
It said the committee had obtained "serious circumstantial evidence" showing that Poland might have hosted a temporary secret detention center for the CIA.
The British government denies knowing about secret CIA prisons or colluding in a secret program to transfer CIA prisoners.
A Foreign Office spokesman said there was nothing unusual about CIA flights using British airports.
"The U.K. is an international hub for refueling to and from the United States," he said on the government's customary condition of anonymity. "Under the Chicago Convention, we can't investigate the aircraft unless we think that a crime is being committed at that time."
Polish officials in Warsaw also rejected the accusations in the report.
In September, President Bush acknowledged for the first time that terrorism suspects had been held in CIA-run prisons overseas, but did not specify where.