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European Probe Finds Signs Of CIA-Run Secret Prisons
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Marty, who lacks subpoena power or other tools to compel countries to cooperate, began his probe after The Washington Post reported in November that the CIA had operated secret prisons for al-Qaeda leaders in Eastern Europe, as well as in Afghanistan and Thailand, following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Post has not published the names of the East European countries involved in the covert program, at the request of senior U.S. officials, including a direct appeal from President Bush. They argued that the disclosure might disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those countries and elsewhere and make them targets of possible terrorist retaliation.
The Council of Europe functions as the continent's official human rights watchdog. Its 46 member nations are legally bound to observe its human rights statutes, although the council has limited power to enforce the rules.
A separate investigation by the European Parliament reported in April that the CIA had operated more than 1,000 flights through European airspace since 2001.
Marty, who obtained similar flight data from European aviation officials, cautioned that it was impossible to tell how many of the flights actually carried terrorism suspects and that most flights could probably be ascribed to the spy agency's normal course of business.
"It would be exaggerated to talk of thousands of flights, let alone hundreds of renditions concerning Europe," he wrote in his report, referring to the practice of "extraordinary rendition," or the secret abduction of suspects by CIA operatives and their allies in foreign intelligence services.
According to his analysis of the flight data, Marty found a pattern of "flight circuits" involving CIA-chartered aircraft that often began at Washington Dulles International Airport and made several common stops around the world before returning to the United States or to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Based on the same flight analysis, Marty reported that there was "prima facie" evidence that the CIA regularly delivered al-Qaeda suspects to detention centers outside Europe, including facilities in Algiers; Amman, Jordan; Baghdad; Cairo; Islamabad, Pakistan; Kabul, Afghanistan; Rabat, Morocco; and Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Marty's report details the travels of one plane in particular, a Boeing jet with tail number N313P. According to the European flight logs, it departed Kabul on Sept. 22, 2003, and landed several hours later at Szymany. It stopped for 64 minutes before continuing to an airport in Bucharest, Romania, and then to Rabat.
Based on the short duration of the stops, as well as other logistical details of the flights, Marty concluded that the operation was part of a broader effort at the time by the CIA to transfer high-ranking al-Qaeda figures out of Afghanistan and into new detention centers in Europe.
