Thomas Hammarberg says authorization for the black sites was given at the "highest political level" Courtesy of the Council of Europe

Ten years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe Thomas Hammarberg has urged Poland, Romania and Lithuania to come clean regarding their alleged hosting of CIA “black sites.”

As part of the “global war on terror,” several countries collaborated with the CIA’s counter-terrorism operations. Some, including Poland, are accused of having hosted secret detention facilities, or “black sites,” where the CIA conducted “enhanced interrogation” (including waterboarding) on detainees.

Of the three Eastern European nations, allegations of Poland’s involvement have been the most specific. Several reports, including one adopted by the European Parliament in 2007, allege that a CIA black site operated in Poland in 2002-2003, where rendition flights brought suspected terrorists Abu Zubaydah, Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, as well as suspected 9/11 plotters Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh.

Investigation

Poland has never admitted to hosting the site, though it has launched an investigation into the matter.

The Human Rights Commissioner, while admitting that Polish officials were not involved in handling or interrogating any detainees, declared that “authorization was obviously given at the highest political level and some assistance provided by the intelligence services.”

Mr Hammarberg urged that the results of the ongoing investigation by Poland’s Prosecutor General should be put under public and judicial scrutiny without delay.

Human rights organizations have voiced concerns about the effectiveness of the investigation, opened in 2008.

An important roadblock is the fact that the United States has refused to provide legal assistance for the case on the grounds of national security and state interest.

Many also argue that political pressure is likely playing a role in the sluggishness of the investigation.

Transatlantic worries

Also last week, a newly released WikiLeaks cable from the US embassy in Warsaw showed both countries were communicating at the highest levels about allegations of a CIA secret prison in Poland as early as 2005.

“At the height of the ‘war on terror, Poland, Romania and Lithuania extended quite extraordinary permissions and protections to their American partners … the full truth must now be established and guarantees given that such forms of cooperation will never be repeated,” stated Mr Hammarberg last week.

“The purported cost to transatlantic relations of pursuing such accountability cannot be compared to the damage inflicted on our European system of human rights protection by allowing ourselves to be kept in the dark,” he added.

As WBJ went to press, there had been no official reaction from the Polish government.