Ariddia
24-01-2007, 11:13
An EU report has criticised Austria, Britain, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Romania for assisting the CIA in committing illegal actions in Europe. The report also specifically criticised Britain, Poland and Italy for their lack of cooperation with the investigation.
A European parliamentary committee on Tuesday approved a report alleging that EU member states including Britain, Germany and Italy knew of covert US flights in Europe, the seizure of terror suspects by CIA agents and their detention in secret centres.
The report, passed in the committee by 28 votes to 17, accuses EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and other senior officials of failing to cooperate with the investigation and withholding information on the secret US prisoner programme.
[...]
The committee said it had logged more than a thousand covert flights, across European airspace or landing at European airports.
The biggest volume of the covert flights was noted in Britain, Germany and Ireland.
[...]
Human Rights Watch accused European states of undermining an international ban on torture by extraditing terrorist suspects to countries where they may be subjected to such abuse.
The New York-based rights watchdog said that EU states relied on "empty promises of humane treatment, known as 'diplomatic assurances,' in efforts to justify the return of terrorism suspects to countries where they risk being tortured".
"If Europe is serious about ending its complicity in torture, it also needs to stop homegrown policies that undermine the global ban on torture," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International welcomed the fact that the report confirmed its conclusion of complicity by European countries with the CIA renditions.
Full article here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20070123-cia-commission.html).
A European parliamentary committee on Tuesday approved a report alleging that EU member states including Britain, Germany and Italy knew of covert US flights in Europe, the seizure of terror suspects by CIA agents and their detention in secret centres.
The report, passed in the committee by 28 votes to 17, accuses EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and other senior officials of failing to cooperate with the investigation and withholding information on the secret US prisoner programme.
[...]
The committee said it had logged more than a thousand covert flights, across European airspace or landing at European airports.
The biggest volume of the covert flights was noted in Britain, Germany and Ireland.
[...]
Human Rights Watch accused European states of undermining an international ban on torture by extraditing terrorist suspects to countries where they may be subjected to such abuse.
The New York-based rights watchdog said that EU states relied on "empty promises of humane treatment, known as 'diplomatic assurances,' in efforts to justify the return of terrorism suspects to countries where they risk being tortured".
"If Europe is serious about ending its complicity in torture, it also needs to stop homegrown policies that undermine the global ban on torture," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International welcomed the fact that the report confirmed its conclusion of complicity by European countries with the CIA renditions.
Full article here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20070123-cia-commission.html).