Brussels, 24/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - As announced (see EUROPE 9131), the European Parliament temporary committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the illegal transport and detention of prisoners began its first hearing on 23 February by receiving the representatives of non-governmental organisations and experts. The 46 member states of the Council of Europe have responded to Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis.
Prosecutor Armando Sparato, known in Italy for having called for the arrest of 22 CIA agents (see EUROPE 9099), accused the American intelligence agency of sabotaging an Italian investigation in February 2003 by kidnapping Mustafa Osama Nasr, an Egyptian imam living in Milan and delivering him, via Germany, to the authorities in Cairo. “If he had not been taken, the Italian police investigation would have led to the arrest of Abu Omar and some of his accomplices,” he told MEPs who were unable to conceal their smiles on hearing of the amateurish methods used by the American secret services in the kidnap. The CIA agents left a clear trail - phone calls, photocopies of identification papers - which allowed Italian investigators to trace everything back to the CIA Headquarters in Virginia and to the head of the CIA in Milan Robert Lady, who disappeared towards the end of 204. Mr Sparato also criticised the American authorities for failing to respond to his request of 22 January 2005 for legal cooperation. Additionally, Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli refused to send the arrest warrants to Interpol. Left-wing MEPs all congratulated the prosecutor on his investigation. Wolfgang Kreissl-Dorfler (PES, Germany) expressed appreciation for the work carried out by Mr Sparato and added that the information presented fully justified the Parliamentary investigation. Charles Tannock (EPP-ED, UK) said he was dismayed that such a hearing could be held in front of the media, when investigations have not yet been completed in Italy. Mr Sparato replied that he had been granted permission by the Chief Prosecutor of Italy. Dick Marty Council of Europe rapporteur on alleged secret CIA detentions in Europe, said that the Abu Omar case was a good example, showing the strategies, methods and ways that kidnappings were carried out. He said that a precise idea was beginning to form of the logistics, which other cases seemed to bear out. There was no doubt that the Bush administration was involved in these kidnappings, extraordinary rendition and secret detention, said Joanne Mariner terrorism specialist with Human Rights Watch (HRW). Mrs Mariner pointed out the extent to which European governments were implicated in these practices. Evidence of this, she said, could be found in, for example, the plane chartered by the CIA which, on 22 September 2003, left Kabul for the North East of Poland, landing the following day at a military airbase in Romania before flying on to Guantanamo, via Morocco. Bugoslaw Rogalski (IND/DEM, Poland) said that all of Mrs Mariner's evidence was based on newspaper articles or on rumours, and not on sources that could be verified by the courts. In reply, Mrs Mariner said no claims had been made that the evidence was irrefutable, but that there were convincing circumstances and that the allegations were worth investigation. European governments had shut their eyes to what was going on, in the opinion of Tony Bunyan, editor of Statewatch, mentioning a very informal agreement concluded in 2003 between the EU and the United States on increased use of European transit installations for the repatriation of aliens not in a lawful positions and criminals. Anne Fitzgerald, Amnesty International representative, told the committee that her Amnesty had data on 800 flights all over Europe, “which we suspect are linked to the CIA”. She said that there was proof that that was the case for four fully documented flights. Asked by Cem Özdemir (Greens/EFA, Germany) to supply information on any alleged detention centre in Europe, Mrs Fitzgerald replied that Amnesty had no tangible evidence of the existence of secret sites on European soil.
The timescale set for the investigation by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, on alleged secret detention and transport of people held secretly in or through member states of the Council of Europe expired on 21 February. This investigation sought to establish whether member states of the Council of Europe, which are party to the European Human Rights Convention, met their obligations according to the terms of the Convention. The 46 countries responded within the deadline, with a slight delay from San Marino. The constructive and exhaustive way in which governments responded to Mr Davis fully met his expectations, he said. The analysis of the responses will be presented at a press conference on 1st march at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.