The global "spider's web" of secret detention and unlawful inter-state transfers

© afrol News / Dick Marty

afrol News, 7 June - A European Council investigation into the "global spider's web" of secret CIA prisons and illegal abduction suspected of terrorist has named the three North African capitals Algiers, Cairo and Rabat as "detainee transfer/drop off points", together with more famous locations such as Guantánamo (Cuba), Baghdad (Iraq) and Kabul (Afghanistan). The report documents frequent flights of CIA abductees to the capitals of Algeria, Egypt and Morocco and torture cases in Egypt and Morocco.

The Council of Europe today presented a report on the alleged illegal CIA prisoners transports and secret detention centres, where ill-treatment of suspected terrorists has been suspected. Mainly aiming at documenting the role of European governments in this "spider's web" - which is against human rights obligations agreed on by these states - the research has also revealed the involvement of Arab North African states in "these unlawful activities."

The well-documented report lists 14 European countries - Bosnia, Britain, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Turkey - as having knowingly cooperated with the CIA in the "unlawful inter-state transfers" of prisoners. "It is now clear - although we are still far from having established the whole truth - that authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities," said investigator Dick Marty.

The most serious charges against any European countries are however made against Poland and Romania. Flight data provided to the Council of Europe investigator had documented the very frequent use by the CIA of two minor airports in these countries, thus strongly indicated that CIA prisoners had been held detained here for longer or shorter periods - contrary to international law and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The report only goes into detail on incidents in member countries of the European Council, not speculating on what may have happened at other destinations. The report nevertheless published a map of "the global 'spider's web' of secret detention and unlawful inter-state transfers." The map is based on the detailed flight data Mr Marty had obtained, and covers the global operations of the CIA prisoners' transports.

On this map, the North African cities of Algiers (Algeria), Cairo (Egypt) and Rabat (Morocco) are marked in the same way as the US military base at Guantánamo Bay, Baghdad and Kabul - and as the Polish town of Szymany and the Romanian cities of Bucharest and Timisoara. These three European destinations are the ones Mr Marty holds have been the CIA's illegal secret detention centres in Europe.

The capitals of Algeria, Egypt and Morocco - briefly described as "detainee transfer/drop off points" "where flights tend to stop for just short periods, mostly far off the obvious route, either ... close to a site of a known detention facility or a prima facie case can be made to indicate a detention facility in their vicinity" - thus have been used as secret detention centres for CIA prisoners abducted or captured in other countries, the report strongly indicates. According to Mr Marty, operations of such a scale must have been known and authorised by national authorities.

The Egyptian government on earlier occasions has been accused of welcoming unlawful CIA terrorist suspects in its prisons, where they allegedly have been exposed to torture and mistreatments not allowed in the US or in Europe. Human rights groups had presented rather detailed documentation of these claims.

The allegations have been even more strengthened by the evidence presented in the Council of Europe report. The report especially mentions a "well documented case" two Egyptian asylum-seekers "handed over" by Swedish authorities to American agents "who took them to Egypt, where they were tortured."

The alleged cooperation of Moroccan and Algerian authorities in the detention and questioning of CIA terrorist suspects is however less known. The report nevertheless especially mentions a "rendition" - torture said to be legal - case involving Binyam Mohamed and Khaled El-Masri, who had been mistreated both in Algiers and Timisoara (Romania).

The report details the "suspected rendition circuit" of Binyam Mohamed with the destination of Morocco, "which several elements point to as a location that harbours a detention facility." Mr Binyam testifies that he underwent his first rendition on 21 July 2002. He describes how unidentified persons "stripped him naked, took photos, put fingers up his anus and dressed him in a tracksuit. He was shackled, with earphones, and blindfolded, before being forced onto an aircraft and flown to Morocco. Official flight records obtained by this inquiry show that the known rendition plane, N379P, took off from Islamabad on 21 July 2002 and flew to Rabat, Morocco."

Mr Binyam has described various secret detention facilities in which he was held in Morocco, including one prison that was submerged "almost underground" and one more sanitary place in which he was apparently placed to recover from injuries sustained from his torture. "Between July 2002 and January 2004 Binyam was tortured on numerous occasions by a team of interrogators and other officials, most of whom were Moroccan," the report says.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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