Europeans nations 'hampering CIA prison probe'

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BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) -- European countries knew about U.S. secret jails for terrorism suspects and have obstructed an investigation into the transport and illegal detention of prisoners, a draft European Parliament report said on Tuesday.

It criticized a string of top EU officials including foreign policy chief Javier Solana and counter-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries, and complained of lack of cooperation from nearly all member states.

The report said Nicolo Pollari, former head of Italy's SISMI intelligence service, had "concealed the truth" when he told a European Parliament committee in March that Italian agents had played no part in the CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric.

On the contrary, SISMI officials played an active role in the abduction of Abu Omar, and it was "very probable" that the Italian government knew of the operation, the report said.

The government of Silvio Berlusconi, who was in power at the time, repeatedly denied any knowledge. His successor Romano Prodi last week named a new head of SISMI to replace Pollari, who faces possible indictment over the Abu Omar affair but denies any wrongdoing.

The case is one of the most publicized examples of a suspected CIA "rendition", or secret transfer of a terrorist suspect between countries -- a practice that human rights groups say often leads to torture.

The European Parliament report said Abu Omar, abducted in Milan in 2003 and flown to Egypt, had been "held incommunicado and tortured ever since."

Europeans complicit

The document, obtained by Reuters, echoed charges from the Council of Europe human rights body that European states were complicit in U.S. abuses during the war on terrorism.

It said records, from a confidential source, of a European Union and NATO meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last December confirmed that "member states had knowledge of the (U.S.) program of extraordinary rendition and secret prisons."

U.S. President George W. Bush confirmed in September that the CIA had held high-level terrorism suspects at secret overseas locations, but Washington denies using torture or handing over prisoners to countries that practice it.

The EU and Council of Europe inquiries were launched partly in response to press reports last year that the United States ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania.

Both countries strongly deny that. But Tuesday's report complained of lack of cooperation from the Polish government and regretted Romania's reluctance to investigate thoroughly.

Among other criticisms in the draft report:

It was "totally unacceptable" that the EU Council first hid, then provided only partial information on regular discussions with senior U.S. administration officials.

Solana's evidence to the committee contained "omissions and denials," which prompted deep concern.

De Vries's evidence lacked credibility and the committee questioned the point of his counterterrorism coordinator role.

The committee was frustrated that neither Europol criminal intelligence boss Max-Peter Ratzel nor NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had agreed to speak to it.

It "deplored" poor cooperation from Britain, as represented before the committee by Europe Minister Geoff Hoon.

The draft report expressed deep concern that temporary secret detention facilities in European countries might have been located in U.S. military bases, and said states hosting such bases needed to exercise greater control.