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EU Wants Details On CIA Prisons

Britain has agreed to write to the United States on behalf of the European Union requesting clarification of reports of secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe, a diplomat said Tuesday.

Britain, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, was asked by several nations including Finland and the Netherlands to write the letter during a EU foreign ministers meeting Monday, the European diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The parliamentary assembly of the 46-member Council of Europe, the continent's human rights watchdog, is investigating allegations that the CIA hid and interrogated key al Qaeda suspects at Soviet-era compounds in Eastern Europe.

Meanwhile, the head of that European investigation said Tuesday that he is investigating 31 suspect planes that landed in Europe in recent years, and is trying to acquire past satellite images of sites in Romania and Poland.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Swiss senator Dick Marty said the Council of Europe, the human rights watchdog on whose behalf he was investigating, had a "moral obligation" to look into claims the CIA set up secret prisons on the continent to interrogate al Qaeda suspects.

He said that despite lack of proof, there were "many hints, such as suspicious moving patterns of aircraft, that have to be investigated."

Given the limited powers of the Strasbourg-based human rights watchdog, Marty's chances of uncovering explosive state secrets seemed unclear.

But the potential impact ranges from major embarrassment for the United States to turmoil in countries that might have participated, even unwittingly. Countries found housing secret detention centers could also be suspended or expelled from the 46-member Council of Europe.

The claims were first reported in The Washington Post on Nov. 2. A day later, Human Rights Watch said it had evidence indicating the CIA transported suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania.

According to the Post's report, the CIA set up a covert prison system nearly four years ago which at various times included sites in eight countries, including Afghanistan and several eastern Europe nations. It quoted current and former intelligence officials and diplomats as sources for its story.

Several other European nations are also looking into reports that secret CIA flights touched down in their territory while carrying prisoners.

The allegations triggered a flurry of denials from governments in the former Soviet bloc and prompted the continent's top human rights organization and the international Red Cross to say they would look into the issue. Such prisons, European officials say, would violate the continent's human rights principles.

In a report presented in Paris Tuesday to the legal affairs committee of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly, Marty says other airports that might have been used by CIA aircraft in some capacity are in Palma de Mallorca, Larnaca in Cyprus and Shannon in Ireland, said Marty's report, which was obtained by The AP.

Marty's report — a copy of which was obtained by The AP — says the aircraft are "alleged to belong to entities with direct or indirect links to the CIA. It is claimed these were used by the CIA to transport prisoners." He said he asked the Brussels-based Eurocontrol air safety organization to provide details of 31 suspect planes which flew through Europe, in accordance with a list given to him by Human Rights Watch.

Member states send Eurocontrol — also known as the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation — flight logs of both civilian and military flights, but these are not published.

Marty also said he had asked the European Union's Satellite Center in Spain to look up and hand over satellite images of suspect sites in Romania and Poland.

"When we talk about 'prisons,' they don't necessarily have to be for many people, they could be cells for a very small group of people, one or two," said Marty.

Marty said he was planning to ask authorities in the Council of Europe's member states whether they have been contacted in order to "authorize secret detention in one form or another."

He also said he intended to ask Sen. John Kerry to share any information the Senate may get from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on the possible existence of secret detention facilities outside the United States.

On Tuesday, several EU countries, including Britain, the Netherlands and Finland, have agreed to write to the United States on behalf of the European Union requesting clarification of reports of secret CIA prisons in Europe.

Marty said the probe was not meant to spark anti-American feelings or question the United States' fight against terrorism.

"This is absolutely not a crusade against America. I think all Europeans agree with Americans that we must fight terrorism," he said. "We do not want to weaken the fight against terrorism ... but this fight has to be fought by legal means. Wrongdoing only gives ammunition to both the terrorists and their sympathizers."

The Council of Europe is the guardian of the European Convention on Human Rights, a legally binding human rights treaty signed by all 46 Council members. The Council itself has no direct jurisdiction over any country, but can exercise political pressure. Membership in the organization is considered prestigious for European countries as it attests to their attachment to Europe's human rights principles.

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