The European Parliament has denounced Ireland and 13 other EU countries for collusion with the US to help the CIA carry out secret ‘rendition’ flights to transport terror suspect.
‘EU member states bear a particular share of political, moral and legal responsibility for the transportation and detention of those imprisoned in Guantanamo and in secret detention facilities,’ the MEPs said, in the resolution, which passed by 334 votes to 247.
The parliament also denounced the subsequent wall of silence over the rendition flights.
‘Members denounce the lack of action taken so far by Member States and the (EU) Council (of nations) to shed light on the extraordinary renditions programme,’ the resolution continued.
14 European countries colluded in or tolerated the secret transfer of terrorist suspects by the US and two of them, Poland and Romania, may have harboured CIA detention centres, according to a 2006 report from the Council of Europe.
That report listed Sweden, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Britain, Italy, Macedonia, Germany and Turkey as countries ‘responsible, at varying degrees ... for violations of the rights of specific persons.’
Seven other countries ‘could be held responsible for collusion - active or passive’, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Portugal and Greece.
Germany has rejected the charge.
The European parliamentarians insisted that more light should be shed on the issue so that ‘responsibility for secret detention centres, including Guantanamo, and the extraordinary rendition programme should be established’.
Within days of taking office last month, US President Barack Obama ordered the closure within a year of the prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
While welcoming that decision, the European deputies said it does 'not seem to fully address the issues of secret detention and abduction or the use of torture'.
Though Portugal has been implicated in the rendition flights, the European parliament did not explicitly incriminate EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
