EU may probe CIA over terror suspects

European Union politicians said tonight they may attempt to question senior CIA and Bush administration officials as part of a probe into allegations against the US intelligence agency.

The probe surrounds claims that terror suspects were held by the CIA at secret prisons in Europe.

Recognising they have no authority to call senior US officials to testify before the EU assembly, some members of the European Parliament suggested sending a delegation to the United States to speak with officials there.

British Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said they could also seek to speak with former members of US or other intelligence services who might be able to aid their inquiry, which thus far has had little to go on beyond unconfirmed press reports.

Allegations the CIA hid and interrogated key al Qaida suspects at Soviet-era compounds in Eastern Europe were first reported November 2 in The Washington Post. The 732-member EU legislature agreed two weeks ago to launch its own investigation. A separate inquiry is also being conducted by the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights watchdog.

“We need to check who in the American administration would be willing to cooperate,” said Italian Socialist Giovanni Claudio Fava. Previously, EU deputies suggested Vice President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could be asked to testify. The European Parliament has no legal power to subpoena them.

Human Rights Watch has said it has circumstantial evidence indicating the CIA transported suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania. Both countries have denied the claims.

In addition to the allegations of secret prisons, there are also claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency transited through European territory while transporting terror suspects to countries where they faced harsh interrogation methods and possibly torture – a practice known as “extraordinary rendition.”

Such actions would breach the human rights treaties that all 25 EU countries have signed up to.

The EU parliament committee was given a mandate to find out whether the CIA or other US agencies or other countries carried out abductions, extraordinary rendition, detention at secret sites, and torture of prisoners in EU countries or have used EU countries to transfer prisoners.

A preliminary report by the Council of Europe accused European governments of turning a blind eye to breaches of human rights. But the report failed to uncover tangible evidence proving clandestine detention centres existed in Romania or Poland as alleged by New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Marty said that more than 100 suspects may have been transferred by US agents to countries where they faced torture or ill treatment in recent years.

The Parliament is scheduled to publish a preliminary report on its findings in May or June.