MEPs probe 'CIA detention' case

On the same day that we find that the US has operated more than a thousand secret rendition flights across central Europe, European MP's fly today to Macedonia to investigate a German's claim that he was arrested by the US and flown to Afghanistan, where he was kept in isolation for five months and was mistreated.

The Americans have admitted that Mr Masri was mistaken for someone else and wrongly arrested.

He is now suing the CIA and the Bavarian authorities are investigating his claims.

A string of former detainees have come forward with stories alleging kidnap and transport by the US for interrogation in third countries - a process known as "extraordinary rendition". Some have provided detailed accounts of alleged torture carried out in secret prisons outside EU or US jurisdiction.

Mr Fava accused European governments of breaching the Chicago aviation convention, under which all flights used for police purposes have to declare their route, destination, the names of crew and passengers. None had been asked to do so by any European government.

Moreover, the flight paths, confirmed by the European air safety organisation Eurocontrol, "seem rather bizarre", he told the BBC.

According to Eurocontrol, the Boeing plane used for the abduction of Mr Masri flew on another occasion, between September 22-23, 2003, from Kabul to Poland to Romania to Morocco and to the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Mr Fava said. "It is hard to think that those stopovers were used simply to refuel."

The Commision will report in January.

Tags: Khaled, al-Masri, rendition, flights, kidnap, US, EU, Bush, Guantanamo, Afghanistan,