A new extradition treaty between the European Union and the United States could be used to legitimise extra-judicial transfers of terrorist suspects and needs clarification, a UN expert said today.
Martin Scheinin, UN special rapporteur for the protection of human rights in counter-terrorism, said article 12 of the 2003 treaty stipulates that states do not have to authorise air transit of a suspect if there is no landing on their territory.
That raised concerns because the article did not spell out that it should apply only to legal extradition of a suspect -- bringing someone to trial or for punishment, he said.
"I see that it could be used for legitimising the process of extraordinary rendition," he said, referring to CIA operations to fly untried suspects for imprisonment or interrogation in third countries to avoid US laws against torture.
Scheinin testified to a European Parliament panel investigating whether EU governments colluded with the US Central Intelligence Agency in such renditions by allowing it to fly suspects across the region to secret prisons where they may have been tortured.
Scheinin urged collective action by the European Union and national parliaments that have to ratify the extradition treaty to ensure its scope did not go beyond formal extradition.
EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries had taken the position that the provision could be used only where extradition had been formally granted, a view shared by the Britain.
But EU national parliaments had shown no interest in clarifying the interpretation of the article, he said.
"This ongoing exercise of ratifying such an agreement is a matter of concern with respect to the very worrying information about rendition flights by using EU airspace, EU airports and EU territory," said Scheinin, a Finnish jurist.
U.S. President George Bush confirmed last month the CIA had run secret detention centres overseas but named no countries.
A Washington Post report last year that the CIA ran secret prisons in Europe and flew suspects to states where they could be tortured drew uncomfortable denials by European governments.
Scheinin said available information made it "very credible" that terrorist suspects had been secretly detained and subjected to rendition flights in Europe, although it was unclear if secret detention centres still existed.
"We have sufficiently many cases, including direct testimonies by released Guantanamo detainees, that show that European territory was used, or least that there is no other credible alternative explanation for certain sequences of events," he said.