BRUSSELS (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.
The report by a European Parliament committee 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.
It accused the former head of Italy's SISMI intelligence service of "concealing the truth" when he told the committee that Italian agents played no part in the CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003.
On the contrary, SISMI officials played an active role in the abduction of Abu Omar, and the CIA kept Italian authorities informed on his later detention in Egypt, the report said.
It said Abu Omar had been "held incommunicado and tortured ever since."
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 renditions and secret prisons."
The United States has acknowledged using renditions, or secret transfers of suspects between countries, and President George W. Bush confirmed in September that the CIA had held high-level terrorism suspects at secret overseas locations.
The EU and Council of Europe inquiries were launched partly in response to press reports that the United States ran such 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 "lack of willingness to investigate in depth."
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 counter-terrorism 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.