Poland 'key base for CIA jails'

aljazeera.net: Poland was the heart of the CIA's secret detention network in Europe until recently, a human rights organisation has claimed.

Marc Garlasco, an analyst for Human Rights Watch, interviewed in Gazeta Wyborcza, a Polish newspaper, said: "Poland was the main base for CIA interrogations in Europe, while Romania played more of a role in the transfer of detained prisoners."

He said the allegations were based on information from CIA sources and other documents obtained by Human Rights Watch. "We have leads, circumstantial evidence to check but it's too early to reveal them," Garlasco said.

The group said in a statement from its base in New York: "Human Rights Watch has collected information that CIA airplanes travelling from Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004 made direct flights to remote airfields in Poland and Romania.

"Human Rights Watch has not reached conclusions about CIA operations in Eastern Europe. We are continuing to investigate the issue."

Poland and Romania deny hosting secret CIA jails and the US has declined to comment on the reports. Read more