News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		4-11-2005 Scotsman Alleged US secret prisons overseas 'a human rights issue' By Gethin Chamberlain ANY use of secret prisons by the United States to detain terrorist suspects would be unacceptable, the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture said yesterday. Manfred Nowak said he was surprised to learn of allegations that the US was holding prisoners in facilities in eastern European democratic states, describing it as "a serious human rights issue". And he said if the allegations proved to be true, then they would amount to inhuman treatment of both the prisoners and their families. His comments came after it was claimed the US was holding al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons in a number of countries, including Afghanistan, Thailand and an unnamed democracy in eastern Europe. He told The Scotsman yesterday: "If it is true, then it would be very disturbing." Such behaviour was "definitely not acceptable", he said, but whenever he had brought any allegation concerning secret places of detention to the attention of the US, he had always received the answer that there are no such places. He added that if the allegations were true, the US could be in breach of international human rights law. He said: "Incommunicado detention as such might constitute by itself inhuman treatment. "Even if you don't have allegations of ill-treatment, the human rights committee and others have said prolonged incommunicado detention as such could violate the right not to be subjected to torture and ill-treatment." The UN is investigating the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, but Mr Nowak said he would widen the investigation if he received a specific complaint. The European Commission said yesterday it would investigate reports that the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe to interrogate al-Qaeda captives. An EU spokesman, Friso Roscam Abbing, said the governments of the European Union's 25 member nations will be informally questioned about the allegations. "We have to find out what is exactly happening," the spokesman said. He added that such prisons could violate EU human rights laws and other European human rights conventions, and that the commission would look into the issue. US officials have refused to confirm or deny a report by the Washington Post that the CIA has been hiding and interrogating top al-Qaeda suspects in eastern European countries. According to the newspaper, a covert prison system was set up by the CIA nearly four years ago, which included sites in eight countries, including Afghanistan and several eastern Europe nations. The report quoted current and former intelligence officials and diplomats as sources for the story. Human Rights Watch in New York said it had evidence indicating the CIA transported suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania. This was based on an analysis of flight logs of CIA aircraft from 2001-4 obtained by the group, said Mark Garlasco, a senior military analyst with the organisation. Poland and Romania were among ten nations that denied having CIA facilities in their territory. Denials also came from Latvia and former Soviet republics, including Georgia and Armenia.
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