MEPs criticise 'unhelpful and evasive' Geoff Hoon in rendition inquiry

Sarah Ludford, the Liberal Democrat MEP on the Brussels investigating committee, said the Europe Minister's answers under cross-examination earlier this week were "not as forthcoming or informative as would be justified by the weight of the allegations raised".

She added: "We felt there was an unwillingness to engage with the questions. It's not enough to say there's nothing to look at. The allegations are credible enough to trigger an obligation to investigate."

Claudio Fava, an Italian committee member, said the meeting with Mr Hoon "proved to be the least fruitful of any meeting with ministers in recent months". The Foreign Office insisted Mr Hoon had answered all the questions put to him.

The 'Rapporteur' of the European Parliament Committee investigating extraordinary rendition by the CIA in Europe, Claudio Fava MEP, has received death threats. Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford, Vice-Chair of the Committee today said:

"I would like to express my solidarity with my colleague Claudio Fava at this difficult time. The police must offer him top-level protection. It is an outrage that in a democratic Europe, a parliamentarian investigating breaches of human rights and the rule of law can receive a death threat."

Mr. Fava received an anonymous letter threatening him with the same fate as his father, a Sicilian journalist murdered by the mafia in 1984. In addition, five anonymous letters have been sent to journalists and others involved in the case.

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Baroness Ludford added:

"These death threat letters would appear to indicate that parliamentary and judicial investigators are beginning to get close to the truth. It shows how high the stakes are. The determination of some authorities to keep up the wall of silence must be matched by determination to uphold Europe's democratic values."