EU to ask for info on secret CIA jails

THE European Union said yesterday it would ask governments of its East European member countries, and those seeking membership, to comment publicly on allegations the CIA set up secret jails in the region to interrogate al-Qaida suspects.

The allegations triggered denials from governments in the former Soviet bloc. EU officials, the Red Cross and America’s top human rights organisation have said they would look into the issue.

EU spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said the European Commission would ask East European governments that have not yet denied the existence of secret prisons on their territories to make statements on the issue “if only to get as much clarity and transparency as possible”.

The commission had earlier said it would make an informal investigation, requesting answers from all 25 member governments as well as EU candidates Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey.

A report on Wednesday in the Washington Post said the CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al-Qaida captives at Soviet-era compounds in Eastern Europe.

Human Rights Watch in New York said yesterday it had evidence indicating the CIA transported suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania.

The conclusion is based on an analysis of flight logs of CIA aircraft from 2001 to 2004 obtained by the group, said Mark Garlasco, a senior military analyst with the organisation.

Human Rights Watch said it matched the flight patterns of the CIA aircraft that they obtained with testimony from some of the hundreds of detainees in the war on terrorism who have been released by the US.

Poland and Romania have vigorously denied the existence of secret detention centres on their territories.