Graphic: MGN Online

Following two years of investigations that concluded last January, the committee reported that 336 stopovers had taken place in Germany, 170 in the United Kingdom, 147 in Ireland, 91 in Portugal, 68 in Spain, 64 in Greece, 57 in Cyprus and 46 in Italy, and issued recommendations to the EU.

The committee lamented that it was not possible to verify the existence of secret detention centers in Poland, due to the Polish government’s lack of cooperation in the investigation, which according to the chairman of the committee, conservative Portuguese deputy Carlos Coelho, “fueled suspicions.”

Among the main recommendations was a request to the European Commission, the EU executive body, to launch an “independent investigation” into the possibility that any of its member states violated human rights and fundamental freedoms by cooperating with the CIA.

If found guilty, member states would face possible sanctions outlined in the EU treaty.

Unlike Ms. Gomes’ previous requests, the latest one has found echo among politicians of the governing Socialist Party, led by Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates. Socialist officials want to question Foreign Minister Luis Amado on CIA flights authorized to pass through Portugal.

Instead of joining the pro-U.S. voices in the party hostile to Ms. Gomes, former Justice Minister Jose Vera Jardim and former Labor Minister Paulo Pedroso are pressuring the executive to clarify whether any contacts took place between Lisbon and Washington, with a view to allowing CIA flights to pass through Portuguese territory.

The deputies, both prominent figures within the ranks of the Socialist Party, asked the foreign minister if he had launched, or planned to launch, an inquiry into possible contacts between Portugal and the United States similar to those reported by the newspaper El País with regard to Spain.

Citing an official document, the influential Spanish paper once again reported, in its Dec. 1 edition, that former conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar (1996-2004) authorized the stopover in Spanish airports of rendition flights headed for Guantanamo.

The daily had previously reported that Portugal gave the go-ahead to CIA flights. Ms. Gomes had made the same accusation, in an interview with IPS.

Mr. Amado has been asked by Mr. Vera Jardim and Mr. Pedroso to shed light on the possibility of Portuguese and U.S. authorities having established contacts similar to those reported by El Pais, and on whether such conversations were documented.

The document leaked by El País dates back to January 2002, when Portugal was governed by the now UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres. Later that year Mr. Guterres was replaced by Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, the current president of the European Commission, who headed the Portuguese Cabinet until June 2004.

Portugal’s foreign minister reacted by denying knowledge of “any official document in Portugal, whether in the Defense or Foreign Affairs ministry archives, that would compromise any previous Cabinet on this matter.”

Mr. Amado has urged critics to “patiently await results,” pointing to the ongoing “process in the Attorney General’s Office, which is free to investigate and access information.”

Related links:

Rice apologizes for Britain over renditions (03-11-2008)

Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo by Murat Kurnaz (UK Guardian, 04-23-2008)