European court rules Poland violated human rights of CIA terror suspects

Europe’s top human rights court ruled Poland violated the rights of two terror suspects by allowing the CIA to secretly imprison them on Polish soil from 2002-2003 and facilitating the conditions under which they were subject to torture.

The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights marked the first time any court has passed judgement on the so-called “renditions programme” that president George W Bush launched after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

The court, based in Strasbourg, France, said Poland violated the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to stop the “torture and inhuman or degrading treatment” of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, who were transported to Poland in 2002.