Denounce Torture

Last Tuesday, Amnesty International along with several other human rights groups called on European nations to terminate involvement in the U.S.practice of illegal detention and extraordinary rendition, the transportation of terror suspects to countries known to torture. According to Senator Dick Marty's report to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the investigations of the EU Parliament, non-governmental organizations and journalists:

...officials in certain European states have tolerated, and in some cases actively supported, the US-initiated system of renditions and secret detentions. As a result, people have been detained and transferred abroad, without due legal process, to places where they have been subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and the Association for the Prevention of Torture, issued a joint statement: Twelve Steps to End Renditions and Secret Detentions in Europe. The statement encouraged European nations to prevent international violations of human rights:

In light of the available evidence on renditions and secret detentions, European states must now take positive steps to ensure that international counter-terrorism measures do not lead to further human rights violations on their territory, and to ensure that no one is rendered from the state to face violations of their human rights abroad.

See: "Europe urged to halt ties to US renditions"

Tags: amnesty international | extraordinary rendition | Human Rights Watch

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In commemoration of the U.N. International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Asian Human Rights Commission released a statement pressing the new United Nations Human Rights Council "to require its members to enact and enforce laws against torture, or risk losing their seats." Bruce Van Voorhis, a spokesman for the Asian Human Rights Commission, questioned:

If you have countries sitting on the U.N. Human Rights Council that are basically practicing widespread torture, what hope do people living in the rest of the world have?

The commission criticized the United States "for setting a bad example for countries with less democratic traditions," referring to detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

The commission also raised the concern that in many Asian countries, torture is condoned and reguarly practiced by law enforcement officials. Currenlty, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines do not have laws against torture.

See: "Asian Human Rights Group Urges UN to Set Higher Standards"

Tags: International Day in Support of Victims of Torture | Asian Human Rights Commission | Abu Ghraib | Guantanamo | UN Human Rights Council

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To observe the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the United Nations (U.N.) is issuing "Rebuilding Lives," a collection of the experiences and rehabilitation of torture victims. The annual commemoration marks the day, June 26, 1987, the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment was established.

Despite the Convention Against Torture, the U.N. has estimated 75 percent of all countries systematically practice torture. The U.N. also has stated that the effects of torture are life- long and rehabilitation is essential for victims.

According to Amnesty International:

There were reports of torture or ill-treatment by state officials in more than 150 countries. In more than 70, they were widespread or persistent. In more than 80 countries, people reportedly died as a result.

Jorge Quiroga, co- founder and medical director of the Program of Torture Victims, has said that although torture victims may experience permanent post- traumatic symptoms, they can learn to learn to "lead a normal life."

See: "UN Observes International Day in Support of Victims of Torture"

Tags: Convention Against Torture | International Day in Support of Victims of Torture | Rebuilding Lives

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According to a Washington Post editorial, Guantanamo Bay prison has become a "symbol of abuses" to the nation. However, torture and degrading treatment of detainees continues at the U.S. prison in Bagram and secret CIA facilities around the world. Approximately 500 detainees are held at Bagram detention center, Afghanistan where their rights are more restricted and conditions are harsher than those at Guantanamo. In addition, those held in secret CIA prisons have not been given legal reviews of their cases or allowed to commnicate with friends and families. Various torture techniques have also been reported by the detainees.

The editorial urges the Bush administration to "hold suspects without charge for a limited period under procedures regulated by law and U.S. courts," to close secret CIA facilities, to follow one set of rules in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture, and to allow prisoners a justice system with the right of review and appeal.

Amnesty International also has denounced the incommunicado detention and torture of detainees in the U.S. military’s Forward Operating Bases and those held in the secret custody of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan.

See: "Close Guantanamo?"

Tags: amnesty international | cia | Convention Against Torture | Bagram | Guantanamo
| Geneva Conventions

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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, announced on Thursday the addition of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The United States did not join the Protocol, which binds 20 nations to stronger protection against torture and degrading treatment of prisoners. According to a United Nations press release:

The Protocol strengthens the Convention against Torture by establishing an international Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture with a mandate to visit places of detention in States parties. The Protocol also requires States parties to set up national preventive mechanisms, which are also to be provided with access to places of detention and prisoners held there.

See: "UN torture treaty strengthened by new protocol on visits to detention centers"

Tags: Convention Against Torture | Optional Protocol | UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

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According to WashingtonPost.com's Eugene Robinson, U.S. officials have portrayed the three men who committed suicide at Guantanamo prison as trecherous, incorrigible terrorists. However, the U.S. government has refused to disclose evidence against the men and revealed little about the charges against the other detainees at the camp. Robinson stated:

But any way you look at it, arbitrary, indefinite detention without formal legal charges is an abandonment of the very ideals this country is supposedly fighting to spread throughout the world.

In May, the U.N. Committee Against Torture also declared that "detaining persons indefinitely without charge constitutes, per se, a violation of the convention (Convention Against Torture)" and pressed the U.S. to close the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Amnesty said in its supplementary briefing to the CAT:

Conditions of detention such as those in Guantánamo, specifically prolonged isolation and indefinite detention, have been part of the ill-treatment of detainees and themselves amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

See: "Closing Time at Guantanamo"

Tags: amnesty international | Guantanamo | indefinite detention

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Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's Executive Director, made the following statement in response to the alleged killing and torture of two U.S. soldiers in Ramadi, Iraq:

Amnesty International, first and foremost, extends its sincerest condolences to the families of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker for their tragic loss. We are deeply disturbed by reports that these two soldiers were brutally tortured. These reports, if proven true, may rise to the level of war crimes.

Amnesty International condemns the torture or summary killing of anyone who has been taken prisoner and reiterates that such acts are absolutely prohibited in international humanitarian law. This prohibition applies at all times, even during armed conflict. There is no honor or heroism in torturing or killing individuals. Those who order or commit such atrocities must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law without recourse to the death penalty.

Amnesty International again calls on armed groups in Iraq to immediately cease all executions, torture or ill-treatment of people. Armed groups, like other parties to the conflict in Iraq, are required to comply strictly with international law and remain accountable for their actions.

Amnesty International released a report, Iraq, In Cold Blood: Abuses by Armed Groups, in July 2005. For a copy of the report, please contact the AIUSA press office at 202.544.0200 x302.

In the midst of detainee abuse scandals, a WashingtonPost.com editorial called on the Bush administration to amend military treatment of foreign prisoners. According to the editorial, Pentagon officials authorized harsh interrogation techniques in urgent cases. However, the relaxed standards created confusion about when to enforce the extreme interrogation methods and led to hundreds of abuse cases in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The editorial claimed that the honor and efficacy of the U.S. in its fight against Islamic extremism was compromised by the country's controversial treatment of detainees, especially since Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 just last year. The amendment prohibited "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment of all prisoners in U.S. custody.

Instead, the Pentagon has issued a new Army's standard interrogation manual which Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have advocated for to authorize harsh techniques against "enemy combatants." The Bush administration is currently drawing up a new detention policy excluding Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits torture and "humiliating and degrading treatment." Earlier this year, the president signed a statement professing his unlimited license in defending America as commander-in-chief and head of the executive branch.

Sponsors of the Detainee Treatment Act are presently demanding that one set of interrogation rules be released to the public. The editorialist also calls for a single set of regulations which conforms with international treaties and the U.S. Constitution in denouncing human rights violations.

See: "A Standard for Interrogation"

Tags: Geneva Conventions | Afghanistan | Iraq | Detainee Treatment Act of 2005

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We just launched our new "Air Torture" Web site today. We've gotten a few requests already from people who wanted to post a button to their blogs and myspace pages, so here's one you can use:

Just paste in the following code:

<a href="http://www.airtorture.org"><img src="http://www.amnestyusa.org/stoptorture/i/air_torture.gif" alt="Air Torture" name="webImage"></a>

According to a new report, Partners in Crime: Europe's Role in U.S. Renditions, released today Amnesty International charges that European nations that colluded with the United States government to illegally render detainees are legally responsible for human rights abuses carried out in renditions.

The report details cases involving seven European states -- including four European Union (EU) members - and analyzes the various levels of involvement by these countries. It also explains how states are complicit under international law for these violations. Rendition is an unlawful practice in which individuals have been illegally detained and secretly flown to third countries where they may be subjected to torture or other ill-treatment and "disappearance."

"Several European nations have been the United States' partner in crime," said Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's Executive Director. "They provided airports and airspace for CIA flights linked to renditions and others participated in apprehending people destined for rendition or in the interrogation of such detainees. The bottom line is that without Europe's assistance, fewer men would be denied basic rights and fewer families would be devastated emotionally and financially distraught by the ‘disappearance' of their father, son, grandfather, brother, uncle or nephew."

Countries highlighted in the report include Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, and EU members Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom are all implicated in the cases detailed in the report. In each case study examined in the report, men have been bundled onto planes and transferred abroad, without due process, to detention sites where they all say they have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated. While the way in which each state is implicated differs -- from allowing airspace airports on their territory to be used, to participating in the arrest or abduction of people and handing them over to U.S. government agents -- their action, or lack of action, contravenes their obligations under international law.

Publication of AI's report follows the release last week of Senator Dick Marty's Council of Europe hard-hitting draft report and marks the launch of Amnesty International's campaign to end rendition in the region.

Amnesty International urges that the complicity of EU member states in the U.S.-led renditions program be addressed at the European Summit meeting tomorrow. The meeting is an important opportunity for the EU to commit to ending renditions on European soil.

The rendition program has also highlighted the fact that U.S. CIA can operate covertly in Europe outside the rule of law and without accountability. The EU must ensure the development of a regulatory framework governing the activities of national and foreign intelligence agencies.

"European governments who are in lock step with the United States in these extralegal transfers, abductions and ‘disappearances' can no longer take a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil approach to the crimes being committed on their sovereign territory," said Jumana Musa, Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice. "The growing body of evidence implicating European governments in these human rights violations must be addressed."

Under international law, states that facilitate transfers to countries where they know or should know that there is a risk of serious human rights abuses are complicit in these abuses and individuals complicit in abductions, torture or "disappearances" should be held criminally responsible.

Amnesty International is also calling for the Council of Europe to continue its work toward uncovering this practice by setting up a commission of inquiry and working to ensure that any shortcomings in legislation are addressed regionally and by states individually.

For a full copy of the report Partners in Crime: Europe's Role in U.S. Renditions, please contact the AIUSA press office at 202.544.0200 x289.

Today, the Parliament's group on extraordinary rendition will listen to evidence of British involvement in the CIA rendition of Benyam Mohammed, a British resident transported to Guantánamo Bay. The Council of Europe recently released a report accusing the UK of providing information used during the torture and allowing the rendition of Mohammed. Earlier this month, Dick Marty, chairman of the Council of Europe's committee on legal affairs and human rights, charged 14 European countries of aiding the CIA's extraordinary rendition of detainees.

According to the Council's report, Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and extradited by the CIA to Morocco and Afghanistan, where he alleges he was tortured. He then was transported to the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo, Cuba. Clive Stafford Smith, Mr Mohammed's lawyer, said:

My client is in Guantánamo Bay. He was born in Ethiopia but he lived in England, where he appreciated the sanctuary given to him from his own brutal government. The British government is beginning to look no less brutal.

Amnesty International's report, Partners in Crime: Europe's Role in U.S. Renditions, also accused the UK of colluding with the U.S. governemnt in extraordinary rendition. In the report, Amnesty urges the Council of Europe to continue its work toward uncovering this practice by setting up a commission of inquiry and working to ensure that any shortcomings in legislation are addressed regionally and by states individually.

See: "MPs to press ministers on torture claims"

Tags: amnesty international | cia | Clive Stafford-Smith | Dick Marty | Benyam Mohammed | Guantanamo | extraordinary rendition

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On Friday, a report detailing the military abuses of detainees in Iraq was released by the Pentagon by the American Civil Liberities Union (ACLU)'s insistence of the Freedom of Information Act. The report confirmed that United States Special Operations troops used harsh, unauthorized interrogation methods against prisoners after approval of the techniques was withdrawn and abuse cases arose at Abu Ghraib prison.

According to Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica of the Army, the Special Operations troops mistakenly used 5 of 12 interrogation methods between February and May 2004 that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former senior commander in Iraq, had rescinded for cruelty in October 2003. General Formica cited "inadequate policy guidance" and perilous conditions for the mistreatment of the prisoners. He said:

I didn't find cruel and malicious criminals that are out there looking for detainees to abuse.

Illicit interrogation techniques included locking detainees in constricted cells so that they couldn't stand or lie down, using military dogs to frighten prisoners, playing loud music to disrupt sleep, stripping and drenching prisoners with water and interrogating them in cold climates, and providing only bread and water for extended periods.

Pentagon officials asserted that detainee treatment policies have been revised, implementing more training for Special Operations interrogators and improved standards for detention centers.

See: "Pentagon Study Describes Abuse by Units in Iraq" (article can't be viewed without subscription to NYTimes)

Tags: ACLU | Iraq | United States Special Operations troops | Abu Ghraib | Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez | amnesty international

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In a Baltimore Sun article, Christopher J. Fettweis, U.S. Naval War College assistant professor of national security affairs, stated:

In guerrilla warfare, torture is inevitable. At some point during every single guerrilla war in history, the conventional/stronger side has tortured its prisoners in the attempt to extract the information that is so vital to its cause.

However, a number of studies and interviews have shown that torture is an unreliable and ineffective method of exacting information from detainees. Abdullah Almalki, a Canadian citizen who was tortured in Syria for 22 months, said in an online discussion with Amnesty International:

...after few hours of continuous torture, I gave in, and basically repeated what they were accusing me of. Once I said that, they stopped the beating. But they resumed again when they found out that what I said could not be true.

Eyal Press wrote in Amnesty International Magazine journalist:

As a tool for collecting information, moreover, torture is notoriously ineffective (since people in pain have the unfortunate habit of lying to make it stop), and has done little to solve long-term security threats.

See Amnesty International's full online discussion with Abudullah Almalki.

See: "With guerrilla warfare come atrocities, torture "

Tags: amnesty international | torture | Abdullah Almalki

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Jumana Musa, Amnesty International USA’s Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice, made the following statement in response to the deaths of three detainees held in U.S. detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba:

These apparent suicides, while regrettable, are the tragic results of years of arbitrary and indefinite detention, and the latest chapter in the human rights travesty that has emerged from years of the administration’s attempts to circumvent the rule of law. Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, detainees’ attorneys and others have long expressed grave concern over the psychological deterioration that results from prolonged detention without charge, trial, or any indication that their situation will be resolved.

Amnesty International called for the closure of Guantanamo over a year ago, and the UN, the EU, and several U.S. allies have echoed that call. While the United States has an obligation to protect its citizens and those living within its borders from attacks by armed groups, that obligation does not relieve it from its absolute responsibility to comply with human rights and the rule of law. By rounding up men from all over the world and confining them in an isolated penal colony without charge or trial, the United States has violated several U.S. and international laws and treaties.

Simple statements by the administration that these men are ‘enemy combatants,’ ‘terrorists,’ or ‘very bad people’ does not justify the complete lack of due process rights. Amnesty International calls on President Bush to close the detention facilities in Guantanamo, and either charge detainees with a recognizable criminal offense and give them a fair trial, or release them unconditionally. The President recently stated that he would like to ‘end the Guantanamo.’ He does not have to wait for the Supreme Court or any other governmental body to make it happen. Guantanamo and all of the various processes that came with it were a creation of the President and the executive branch, and the administration can choose to end this ill-advised policy.

The Administration should stop trying to minimize the desperate actions of detainees with language that does not reflect the seriousness of the matter at hand. Colorful euphemisms such as ‘manipulative self injurious behavior’ and ‘hanging gestures,’ both used by the administration to refer to suicide attempts in the past, only belittle the gravity of the situation that detainees are facing and the extreme measures they are willing to take to escape the hopelessness with which they view their situation.

Today’s reported suicides of detainees in Guantanamo should serve as a wake up call to the President Bush and his administration that Guantanamo is not just a public relations problem, but instead an indictment on its deteriorating human rights record.

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Many religious organizations have united in joining the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) by signing their "Statement of Conscience." The NRCAT calls people of all faiths to join their "Torture is a Moral Issue" campaign by endorsing the statement, calling for the elimination of the U.S. policy of torture. The declaration to be published in the June 13 issue of The New York Times proclaims that torture is a universal breach of human dignity, a violation that all religions denounce. Bob Edgar, General Secretaryt of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC), said:

There are few other issues on which the NCC's 35 member communions are more united. The use of torture or other dehumanizing measures is diametrically contrary to the love of God and the gospel of Jesus. One of the ideals of the United States is to stand in the world as a bastion against torture.

Archbishop Cardinal McCarrick, one of 27 national religious leaders who have signed the statement stated:

Torture is a dehumanizing and terrible attack against human nature and the respect we owe for each other.

See: "Religious Leaders sign appeal to end torture"

Tags: National Religious Campaign Against Torture

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On Sunday, families and human rights lawyers expressed skepticism about the reported suicides of two Saudi prisoners at Guantanamo Bay- questioning whether the men were driven to take their lives by torture. The imprisonment of more than 130 Saudis at the Guantanamo prison has aggravated Saudi resentment towards the U.S. detention center. Kateb Shimri, a lawyer representing the relatives of Saudis held at Guantanamo, said:

The families don't believe it, and of course I don't believe it either. A crime was committed here, and the U.S. authorities are responsible.

Shimri announced his plans to sue the U.S. government on behalf of the relatives of the deceased. The Saudi Human Rights Group also called for an investigation into the deaths. According to U.S. authorities, Ali Abdullah Ahmed, a Yemeni prisoner, also commited suicide. The three men were never formally charged with a crime. Saleh Khathlan, director of the Saudi Human Rights Group, directly accused Guantanamo authorities of torturing detainees:

Even if the suicide story is true, I have no doubts that they were pushed to it by torture and the lack of attention paid to the health of the detainees.

Amnesty International also responded to the detainee deaths in Guantanamo Bay:

Today’s reported suicides of detainees in Guantanamo should serve as a wake up call to the President Bush and his administration that Guantanamo is not just a public relations problem, but instead an indictment on its deteriorating human rights record.

See: "Saudis doubt detainee suicide, allege torture"

Tags: amnesty international | Guantanamo | Saudi Human Rights Group

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On Tuesday, June 13, a diverse group of religious leaders including Pres. Jimmy Carter and Elie Weisel will issue a New York Times advertisement calling for the elimination of the U.S. policy of "torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." The ad is part of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) and June's International Torture Awarenes Month campaign. Reverend Rick Warren, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Rabbi David Saperstein, along with Pres. Carter and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, have signed the NRCAT's "Statement of Conscience."

For more information or to get involved, see:

National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT)

June Torture Awareness Month

See: "Interfaith appeal calls for end to U-S policies allowing torture"; "Interfaith Group Seeks End Of Torture Policy"

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Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's Executive Director, made the following statement in response to today's Council of Europe report on the complicity of certain European states with CIA renditions:

Amnesty International applauds today's Council of Europe report that makes clear that the United States has woven a renditions "spider web" outside the rule of law that includes "disappearances", arbitrary detention, illegal transfers and torture or other ill-treatment.

Today's report confirms Amnesty International's findings that several cases of rendition occurred with the involvement or co-operation of Council of Europe member states. In addition, the Council of Europe's recommendations echo Amnesty International's own calls including for the United States and European states to end renditions and conduct independent and thorough investigations into the practice.

Amnesty International continues to urge Congress to establish an independent commission to fully investigate the U.S. government's use of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the "war on terror."

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The Washington Times' Douglas MacKinnon writes that the media's criticism of American interrogation techniques emboldens al Queda and other Islamic terrorist organizations against the According to MacKinnon, former press secretary to former Sen. Bob Dole, reporters criticize U.S. military officials for crimes that hardly qualify as abuse compared to the violence of terrorist organizations. He stated:

Do an online search and compare how many words the New York Times and Washington Post use to condemn our nation and "waterboarding," as opposed to the unthinkable torture these young Iraqi policemen endure.

MacKinnon also insisted that controversial U.S. military interrogation tactics may save thousands of lives of troops and civilians. However, the current U.S. Army Field Manual recognizes that torture and inhuman treatment is ineffective, stating that "Use of torture and other illegal methods is a poor technique that yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts, and induce the source to say what he thinks the interrogator wants to hear." A report by Amnesty International states:

High-level US officials have frequently stated that the “war on terror” is a new war that requires new thinking. In fact, these officials seek to justify old methods that have long been de-legitimized. Suspending habeas corpus, “disappearing” detainees, incommunicado detention and the legalization of torture have been used in the name of national security and do not represent “new thinking.” These policies merely recycle old, ineffective practices that violate human rights and undermine the rule of law.

Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith denounces torture as a procedure of war, from Guantanamo detainees to victims of religious torture four centuries ago:

...it would seem that for the most part torture does not work, either because it extracts inaccurate information, or information that is not subject to verification. The prisoners in Guantánamo Bay have confessed to outlandish things when tortured and abused. The young British Muslims held there who came to be known as the “Tipton Three” admitted to being the shadowy figures on the edge of a video of Osama bin Laden, taped in Afghanistan in 2000. The problem for the prosecution was that they were working in an electronics store in Birmingham at the time.

See "Torture as defined by the media"

Tags: Al Queda | amnesty international | Clive Stafford-Smith | Guantanamo | Tipton Three | torture

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Memorial, an international human rights organization in Russia, issued a report on Wednesday of torture in a secret prison in Grozny, the captial of the Chechen Republic in Russia. The organization alleged that the prison was used to kidnap, torture, and murder hundreds of separatist Chechens in violation of EU and Russian laws although the Russian government has repeatedly denied torturing Chechens. Yury Orlov, head of Memorial, said the prison should have been closed many years ago, but operated until last month.

An allegation of the secret Russian prison had been published in May by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and submitted to Dick Marty, Chairman of the Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other international human rights groups have urged Russia and the government of Chechnya to end miltary abuses. In a statement issued in May, Amnesty said:

We urge the Russian authorities to put an end to torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detentions, enforced "disappearances", and extra-judicial executions.

Some human rights activists claim that many of the "terror suspects" detained in the secret prison are innocent civilians. Alavdi Sadykov, imprisoned in 2000, alleges that his captors cut off his left ear and brutally tortured him.

See Amnesty International's public statement on the state of Russia.

See the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights' report.

See: "Russian 'torture dungeon' found"; "Russian HR Group Uncovers Secret Torture Cell Used by Pro-Moscow Chechen Police"; "Chechnya secret prisons photos turned over to prosecutors: Russia rights group"

Tags: Memorial | Chechen Republic | amnesty international | International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights | Dick Marty | Alavdi Sadykov

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On Thursday, Dick Marty, chairman of the Council of Europe's committee on legal affairs and human rights, issued a report accusing 14 European countries of aiding the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" of 17 detainees. The prisoners alleged that they were seized by U.S. officials and transferred to foreign prisons. Some claim they were tortured. Marty reported that the European countries' actions varied from providing airports for CIA operations to allowing the transportation of terrorist suspects from their land:

It is now clear - although we are still far from having established the truth - that authorities in several European countri