A damning report accuses Europe of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses allegedly committed on its soil in the name of fighting terrorism. Tamam Ahmed Jama reports from Paris A Swiss senator leading an investigation into the alleged existence of CIA-run secret detention centres in Europe has said that, "there is a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of 'relocation' or 'outsourcing' of torture. Acts of torture or severe violations of detainees' dignity through the administration of inhuman or degrading treatment are carried out outside national territory." In a preliminary report he presented to the Council of Europe on 23 January, Dick Marty also said that European governments, or at least their secret services, must have known about flights of allegedly CIA-chartered planes using European airspace and airfields. Hundreds of planes suspected of being used by the CIA have reportedly made multiple landings in scores of European airports over the past few years. It is suspected that these planes were transporting terror suspects to secret camps run by the CIA. According to Marty's report, in the past few years, more than 100 people have been transported via Europe to places where they may have been tortured. The practice of taking suspects to third countries for interrogation where they may face torture is known as "extraordinary rendition". The best documented case in Europe of the controversial practice is that of Abu Omar, an Egyptian cleric resident in Italy. According to the Italian judicial authorities investigating his case, Abu Omar was kidnapped by 25 CIA agents in the centre of northern city of Milan in broad daylight in February 2003. He was flown from the Italian military base at Aviano to the Ramstein military base in Germany, and then taken to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured. "Abu Omar's abduction is a perfect illustration of 'extraordinary renditions'," Marty said in the report. "It is a clear indication that the method exists, together with complex logistic support in various parts of Europe and deployment of personnel. It also plants doubts and raises the question of involvement of national authorities at one level or another." Italy has issued arrest warrants for 22 of the 25 CIA agents who have allegedly abducted Abu Omar. "The Italian judicial investigation established, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the operation was carried out by the CIA, which has not issued any denials," Marty stated. He added that the Italian investigators also established that the presumed leader of the abduction operation, who had worked as the American consul in Milan, was in Egypt for two weeks immediately after Abu Omar was handed over to the Egyptian authorities. "It may safely be inferred that he took part in Omar's interrogation," Marty said. According to Marty's report, the aircraft that transported Abu Omar had landed at least three times in Spain. Reports have suggested that an airport in the Spanish island of Mallorca had been used as a base for transporting terror suspects. An enquiry into the matter is underway in Spain. In Germany, judicial authorities are investigating another high- profile case of "extraordinary rendition". Khaled Al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese origin, was arrested in Macedonia in 2004 and taken to Afghanistan for interrogation. Al-Masri, 41, who eventually made his way back to Germany after being released, has said that he was held in a CIA prison in Afghanistan for five months, often in solitary confinement, and was beaten frequently. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has announced that a parliamentary committee will investigate his case. The case of Binyam Mohamed Al-Habashi, an Ethiopian-born resident in Britain, is another incident of "extraordinary rendition" in which a terror suspect was allegedly transported through Europe. Al-Habashi, 27, was arrested at Karachi Airport in Pakistan in April 2002, and handed over to US soldiers. He was held in Afghanistan for some time before being flown to Morocco where, according to the testimony obtained by his lawyer, Al-Habashi was subjected to physical and psychological torture for more than a year. He was subsequently transferred to Guantanamo Bay where he is currently being held. His British lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, says "we know for absolute certain" that the plane that took Al-Habashi to Morocco stopped over at Shannon in Ireland, which is one of the alleged CIA flight routes in Europe. An article in The Washington Post in early November blew the whistle on the alleged CIA secret camps in Europe. Initial reports suggested that the CIA was running secret prisons in Poland and Romania. Both countries have refuted the allegations and the Polish government has ordered an enquiry into the matter. Marty cited in his report that a fax sent from the Egyptian Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the Egyptian Embassy in London -- intercepted by the Swiss secret services -- referred to the existence of detention centres in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Macedonia and Kosovo. The interception of the fax dated 11 November 2005, which has not been denied by the parties concerned, was published on 8 January in the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick. The EU justice commissioner, Franco Frattini, has welcomed Marty's preliminary report and called on EU member states and candidate countries to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation. "I have taken note of the rapporteur's serious, interim conclusion that 'it is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware' of renditions," Frattini said in a statement. "It is now for the member states of the Council of Europe to clarify their position in this regard." Frattini warned in November that any member state found to have hosted a secret CIA prison could have its voting rights suspended. Based in Strasbourg, France, and comprising 46 members -- including 21 from Central and Eastern Europe -- the Council of Europe is the continent's human rights watchdog. The existence of the alleged secret prisons is a violation of the principles of both the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture. Sitting in Strasbourg on 18 January, the European parliament approved the mandate of a committee that will investigate the allegations of secret prisons on European soil and CIA-chartered flights carrying suspects to secret camps -- so-called "black sites" -- for interrogation, where they are possibly tortured. After shocking reports of prisoner abuses in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan and Abu Ghraib in Iraq, it is feared that individuals held in secret locations are subjected to treatment inconsistent with international human rights norms. "The relocation of prison camps to Guantanamo and elsewhere indicates that even American legal standards are seen as obstacles by the US administration," Marty said in the report. "'Extraordinary rendition' and secret detention facilitate the use of degrading treatment and torture." In December, in an article in the French daily Le Monde, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, said: "Secret detention is in itself a form of torture for the person detained -- who is at the mercy of the authorities holding him -- and worse still for the families who are faced with a situation amounting to that of a missing person." Scores of European countries have launched their own investigations into the allegations of the existence of secret prisons and extraordinary renditions. Few, including Romania, have said that they were satisfied with the assurances given by the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice while touring Europe in early December. Rice did not deny the existence of CIA secret prisons in Europe, but simply insisted that the US did not condone or practise torture. She also said that the prohibition on torture applied to CIA agents working overseas. In an interview in November with the American channel ABC, the director of the CIA, Porter Goss, did not deny the existence of CIA secret prisons in various parts of the world where terror suspects are being held. Like Rice, he contented himself with a categorical denial that the US used torture. He also avoided giving his opinion on certain controversial interrogation techniques employed by the CIA but widely recognised as amounting to torture. The American authorities defend controversial tactics they say are necessary to respond to the threat posed by international terrorism. In the report, Marty made it clear that while Europe shares America's determination to combat international terrorism and supports the efforts to detect and prevent terrorist crimes, counter-terrorism actions should be conducted within the confines of the law and in a manner consistent with respect for human rights. "'Rendition' of prisoners must be carried out in accordance with legal procedures so that the prisoner is afforded all the legal guarantees to which he or she is entitled, including a fair trial within a reasonable time," he stated. "It cannot be over- emphasised that nothing and no one can justify waiving the principles of the rule of law and respect for human rights and that torture, in addition to being an unreliable way of obtaining information, is in any case absolutely prohibited."
