THE CIA'S SECRET PRISONS IN EUROPE According to the A Dutch Senator, Tiny Kox, is pleased about the decision of the Council of Europe to launch an investigation into secret detention centers in Europe. The Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has asked Dick Marty, the Swiss Chairman of its Committee for Legal Affairs and Human Rights, to take charge of the enquiry. Ms ARBOUR, a former Canadian supreme court justice and UN Human Rights Commissioner wanted to inspect such centers, but the US said that it was inapropriate and illegitimate for her to question US conduct on the basis of media reports. Ms Rice said the US was bound by the UN Convention against Torture (CAT). It "extends to US personnel wherever they are, whether they are in the US or outside the US," Ms Rice said in Ukraine. Her comments appear to contrast with those of the US Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales, who said last year the convention did not apply to US interrogations of foreigners overseas. Some former detainees have alleged they were part of a Ms Rice has admitted that terror suspects are flown abroad for interrogation under a process called ‘rendition', but denied they were tortured. She refused to address the claims about secret CIA prisons abroad where suspects could be interrogated without reference to international law. But It is becoming obvious that the US administration is also anxious to find an answer to the ethical and legal problems raised by the process of so-called "extraordinary rendition" - where captives are interrogated in third countries. The proposal, made by senior Republican senator John McCain, who is sponsoring a law which would ban inhumane treatment and oblige all US agencies to abide by the UN Torture Convention, was rejected. Dick MARTY said in his report, "rendition" - the secret A US news report, on ABC television, said that the Polish prison and another in Romania had subsequently been closed and transferred to North Africa. Mr Marty also looked into allegations of secret CIA detention centres in Romania and Poland. Here he said there was "no formal, irrefutable evidence", although he said that there should be further investigation. Mr Marty's report talks about CIA activities challenging the very functioning of the law-based state and its democratic foundation. "It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware," the report stated. Sources : www.voltairenet.org : a multi-language news site. http://international.sp.nl : a Dutch site in English. http://newsimg.bbc.net.uk : the BBC site with easy access to all articles concerning the same subject. |
Washington Post, the Bush administration ordered the establishment of a prison network, which was created after the 9/11 attacks in order to interrogate important members of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. Such detention centers – known as “black sites” in US official reports – were built in eight countries such as 
Thailand and Afghanistan and some other democratic countries of Eastern Europe. 
US network of "ghost flights" and secret prisons run by the CIA around the world. They claim they were subjected to beatings, electric shock treatments and solitary confinement during their detention. 
transport of prisoners via Europe to third countries where they may have been tortured - seems to have affected more than 100 people in recent years. The facts have "not even been denied". He singled out the Italian judiciary for praise and said the CIA kidnapping had "completely destroyed" an Italian police investigation into Abu Omar and his associates. In another case, a German man was said to have been kidnapped in Macedonia and taken to Afghanistan.