JURIST - Paper Chase: Europe rights watchdog calls CIA secret prisons allegations 'credible'

[JURIST] Swiss senator Dick Marty submitted a report to the Council of Europe (CoE) [official website] Tuesday, concluding that allegations [JURIST report] that the CIA operated secret prisons in Europe and abducted and illegally transported terror suspects across Europe are credible. The CoE report comes after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to Europe to smooth relations following the allegations; Rice defended [JURIST report] the CIA's rendition practices, and assured officials that the US policies on the treatment of terror detainees fall within the bounds of international law [JURIST report]. According to Marty's statement [text]:

the information gathered to date reinforced the credibility of the allegations concerning the transfer and temporary detention of individuals, without any judicial involvement, in European countries.

Legal proceedings in progress in certain countries seemed to indicate that individuals had been abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal standards.

Marty criticized the US for refusing to specifically confirm or deny the allegations and warned that if any European state is shown to have been involved, the state "would stand accused of having seriously breached their human rights obligations to the Council of Europe." BBC News has more.

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