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”.