Europe 'aided US in CIA flights'

BBC News

Fourteen European states colluded with the CIA in secret US flights for terror suspects, a report by Europe's human rights watchdog is due to conclude.

The document will be presented to the Council of Europe by Swiss MP Dick Marty after a seven-month inquiry.

An advance copy seen by the BBC says there is also evidence to support suspicions that secret CIA camps are or were located in Poland and Romania.

The two countries have strongly denied the allegation in the past.

The BBC's Tim Franks in Paris, where the report will be issued, says the charges are potentially explosive - but the difficulty remains in securing the proof.

The US admits to picking up terrorism suspects but denies sending them to Arab nations to face torture. [...]

In an interim report in January, he said European governments were almost certainly aware of the CIA's secret prisoner flights via European airspace or airports.

The new report is quoted as saying: "It is now clear - although we are still far from having established the truth - that authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities.

"Other countries ignored them knowingly, or did not want to know."

According to the advance copy, countries such as Spain, Turkey, Britain, Germany and Cyprus provided "staging posts" for rendition operations. [...]

European media reports have since alleged that the CIA has used several European airports for its programme of "extraordinary renditions".

Under the highly secretive process, US intelligence agencies send terror suspects for interrogation by security officials in other countries, where they have no legal protection or rights under American law. [...]