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MEPs back the Council of Europe report on 'extraordinary rendition'

Posted June 13th, 2006 by Davide Simonetti
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The Council of Europe report into the CIA's use of 'extraordinary rendition' and secret CIA prisons in Europe has been backed up by MEPs. When the report came out last week, Tony Blair said:

We have said absolutely all that we have to say on this. There is nothing more to add to it. The Council of Europe report adds nothing new whatever to the information that we have.

It seems however, that EU lawmakers do have more to say on this even if Tony Blair doesn't. The temporary committee on alleged CIA renditions, chaired by Italian MEP, Claudio Fava, produced a text which draws the same conclusions as the Council of Europe report and which will be debated next month in the European Parliament.

“I am happy that the majority of MEPs on this committee support the report. But it is strange and surprising that the EPP-ED members continue to deny what the rest of the world acknowledges,” ALDE MEPs said in a statement on Monday.

“Illegal renditions do take place in Europe, international conventions have been breached and European citizens have been tortured with the awareness of European governments."

"Why don't the EPP members trust Condolezza Rice who has confirmed that these renditions have taken place in Europe?"

[...]

"In a number of cases, the CIA or other US services have been directly responsible for the illegal seizure, removal, abduction and detention of terrorist suspects on the territory of member states," the report approved late on Monday reads.

The report also says that European states "may be held liable" for failing to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights. When the issue is debated in the EU Parliament next month there might well be more embarrassing revelations for Tony Blair and other EU leaders who continue to refuse to acknowledge complicity with the US rendition and 'black site' programme.

Quick note of some of the

On June 13th, 2006 Tom says:

Quick note of some of the parties in the EPP-ED:

British Conservatives (for now - wonder what Andrew Tyrie makes of this, considering his sterling efforts in the HoC),
German CDU (of Angela Merkel, who's trying to build bridges with the torturers in Washington)
Forza Italia (Berlusconi's lot)
Spanish People's Party, whose leader (Aznar) was the chap who used to appear with Bush and Blair in photocalls around the time of the Iraq invasion, looking like a lost Spanish waiter.

No conflicts of interest there, then!

Thats pretty much what I

On June 13th, 2006 Davide Simonetti says:

Thats pretty much what I suspected. The only surprise is that Aznar's lot are still around (I always thought that he looked like a waiter too).