‘Entire continent’ linked to CIA’s torture flights

“THE entire continent is involved,” the man investigating whether Europe’s governments are facilitating the CIA in the kidnap and torture of terror suspects claimed in his first report yesterday.

Dick Marty, the Swiss senator and lawyer given the job by the Council of Europe, was highly critical that governments had not instigated formal investigations about the allegations which first arose over two years ago.

Europe has been affected by more than 100 kidnappings of terror suspects by CIA agents while hundreds of CIA-chartered flights have passed through European countries, he said.

"It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware. And a number of revelations have already been published by the press, especially in America, over the past few years," he said.

The US have never denied they kidnap suspects but statements made by US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, during and before her European visit last month, and by her predecessor, Colin Powell, always maintained they respected national sovereignty, suggested its European allies were aware of the situation.

"Their statements are taken by some as both a reprimand and a warning: 'Stop being hypocritical,' and 'Do you really want us to say what happened?'" Mr Marty said in his report.

The evidence that US agents are kidnapping people in Europe has been well publicised, but has not resulted in governments taking any action, he said, citing the case of Abu Omar.

"In the case of Abu Omar, it was obvious the CIA acted without informing the Italian judicial and police authorities.

"The Milan public prosecutors explicitly state that the action taken by the American service, which they consider constituted a criminal offence, prevented them from completing investigations which they were conducting against Omar and which were on the verge of identifying a network of activists considered potentially dangerous.

"The Italians' meticulous and highly professional work had thus been undone by the unexpected intervention by CIA agents.

"This 'rendition' is a glaring illustration of the fact that such actions, which infringe the principles of the rule of law, are not only unacceptable from the legal and ethical point of view, but also ineffective, or indeed damaging, to the fight against terrorism," the report states.

He added the US authorities are refusing to cooperate with the German prosecutor responsible for the German strand of the Abu Omar case, on Washington's orders.

"It is difficult to believe that such an approach to relations between authorities in different countries can provide any valid basis for genuine cooperation among states endeavouring together to combat the worst threats facing us in modern times," Marty says.

He suggests that the link between rendition and torture is known and accepted by Europe's governments, citing a number of former US intelligence officials who detailed resources used against actual and suspected terrorists.

"These clearly confirm that the current US administration seems to start from the principle that the principles of the rule of law and human rights are incompatible with efficient action against terrorism.

"Even the laws of war, especially the Geneva Conventions, are not accepted or applied. The relocation of prison camps to Guantanamo and elsewhere indicates that even American legal standards are seen as obstacles by the US Administration."

Michael Scheuer, one of the architects of the rendition system during the Bush and Clinton administrations admitted last March knowing that suspects were tortured in Egypt, adding it was "very convenient" finding "someone else to do your dirty work", the report said.

Vincent Cannistraro, CIA former head of counterespionage was reported to have said that a Guantanamo detainee suspected of belonging to al-Qaida and who was refusing to cooperate provided better information after being rendered to Egypt. "They tore his fingernails out and he started to tell things," he said.

Mr Cannistraro also reportedly said Egyptian prisons were full of men without nails.

"It's crude, but highly effective, although we could never condone it publicly."

Mr Marty said there is a great deal of "coherent, convergent evidence" pointing to the existence of a system of relocation or outsourcing of torture and this leads to the question if European countries were unaware of it.

Mr Marty said that plain honest answers were needed and he hoped that evidence from a number of sources, including a former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, would help.

Investigations by the European Parliament and a legal opinion from the Venice Commission due in mid-March will be very important in the search for truth. The 46-member governments of the Council of Europe are to return the questionnaire by February 21.

But the Council of Europe must go beyond ascertaining the existence or non-existence of secret detention centres in Europe.

"The issue at stake is even more important than that. The current US administration obviously considers that the traditional instruments of the democratic state governed by the rule of law are inappropriate for facing up to the terrorist threat.

"Is Europe prepared to accept such an approach?" the report asks. The full report will be finalised towards the end of March.