European Ministers Deny Links to CIA `Prisons'
John Crewdson
Chicago Tribune, US
_______________
Strasbourg (France):
Interior ministers across Europe have unequivocally denied that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency ever incarcerated terrorism suspects on their soil or used their airports or airspace to transport prisoners destined for torture chambers in Egypt, Syria and elsewhere.
That announcement, made Monday by European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini, deepened the mystery surrounding news reports that the CIA has used facilities in at least two Eastern European countries to detain suspects.
The announcement met with a mixed reaction among the 100 or so European parliamentarians who attended the sometimes fractious session of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties.
Frattini, a former Italian foreign minister and European commissioner for justice, said he could do nothing beyond requesting the assurances and suggested that any inquiry into "secret prisons" or the mistreatment of terrorism suspects within Europe should come from the Council of Europe, a larger body separate from the European Union. Not coincidentally, a Council inquiry has been under way for several weeks.
Dec 14, 2005
John Crewdson
Chicago Tribune, US
_______________
Strasbourg (France):
Interior ministers across Europe have unequivocally denied that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency ever incarcerated terrorism suspects on their soil or used their airports or airspace to transport prisoners destined for torture chambers in Egypt, Syria and elsewhere.
That announcement, made Monday by European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini, deepened the mystery surrounding news reports that the CIA has used facilities in at least two Eastern European countries to detain suspects.
The announcement met with a mixed reaction among the 100 or so European parliamentarians who attended the sometimes fractious session of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties.
Frattini, a former Italian foreign minister and European commissioner for justice, said he could do nothing beyond requesting the assurances and suggested that any inquiry into "secret prisons" or the mistreatment of terrorism suspects within Europe should come from the Council of Europe, a larger body separate from the European Union. Not coincidentally, a Council inquiry has been under way for several weeks.
Dec 14, 2005
