EP report condemns EU collusion with CIA rendition in Europe
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Brussels, Nov 29, IRNA
EU-CIA-Rendition
A European Parliament committee condemned Wednesday the extraordinary rendition by the CIA as an 'illegal system' and also blasted European countries for concealing and accepting the practice.
The EP's temporary committee investigating the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners presented its draft report to the press in Brussels this afternoon.
The report condemns 'extraordinary rendition as an illegal systematic instrument used by the United States in the fight against terrorism'.
The rapporteur of the report, Italian MEP Giovanni Claudio Fava, also condemned the 'acceptance and concealing of the practice, on several occasions by the secret services and governmental authorities of certain European countries'.
The report stressed that at least 1,245 flights operated by the CIA have flown into the European airspace or stopped over at European airports.
The report lists Italy, UK, Germany, Sweden Austria, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Romania, Poland as the countries which in some way cooperated with the CIA rendition.
For example, the report condemns the active role by certain officials of the Italian military service in the abduction of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar, who had been granted asylum in Italy and who was abducted in Milan on February 17, 2003 and flown to Egypt.
It expressed serious concern about the 170 stopovers made by CIA- operated aircraft at UK airports, which on many occasions came from or were bound for countries linked with extraordinary rendition.
The report expresses serious concern about the 336 stopovers made by CIA-operated aircraft at German airports that on many occasions came from or were bound for countries linked with extraordinary rendition.
Fava told reporters that the during the 10-month long investigation the committee held 154 hearings, undertook seven missions abroad and also met with 20 victims of the CIA rendition.
"We cannot leave this illegal system unanswered. We must make sure that this will not happen again," stressed the Italian lawmaker.
"The war on terror cannot be fought in this way. Rendition and torture do not work," said Fava.
The report calls on European countries that have started their own investigations to conclude their work as soon as possible and make their inquiry public.
The report urges European countries against whom allegations have been made and that have not undertaken any investigation to commence such proceedings as soon as possible.
It also calls for the closure of Guantanamo prison and for European countries to accept the return of their citizens who are being held illegally by US authorities.
The report which will be discussed by the EP Committee in the next few days also presented working documents providing evidence of the companies linked to the CIA, the aircraft used by the CIA and the European countries in which CIA aircraft made stopovers.
260/2322/1412
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