Coveney seeks EU investigation of US 'torture flights'

Fine Gael MEP Simon Coveney has backed calls for the European Parliament to investigate the controversial US treatment of suspected Islamic militants.

The Bush administration has admitted setting up an "extraordinary rendition programme" to transfer suspects to secret prisons around the world.

Critics claim the programme has been established so these suspects can be tortured abroad at the behest of the CIA without any protections under US law.

Some innocent victims of the rendition scheme have been tortured for months in countries like Syria and Egypt, but US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has insisted that the US does not condone such actions.

The issue has climbed up the public agenda in recent weeks amid concerns that European airports, including Shannon Airport in Co Clare, may have been used to fly detainees around the world.

European governments appear content to accept US assurances that this is not the case, but Mr Coveney has said he supports calls for the European Parliament to set up a temporary committee to investigate the matter.

"We would be hypocrites ourselves if we didn't impose the kind the standards that we expect others to impose," he said.

"If it is the case that prisoners or detainees have been taken through Shannon or any other European airports to parts of the world where they may be subject to torture for interrogation reasons, then that's totally unacceptable.

"First of all, it needs to end and, secondly, we need to find the truth in relation to it."