Switzerland approves probe of CIA flights
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By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 14, 2:53 PM
ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070214/ap_on_re_eu/switzerland_cia_flights
GENEVA - Switzerland on Wednesday followed Italy and Germany in
raising the threat of criminal prosecution of CIA operatives involved
in anti-terrorism operations in Europe.
The Swiss Cabinet authorized the start of criminal proceedings against
those responsible for the abduction in Italy of an Egyptian Muslim
preacher allegedly taken on CIA flights through Swiss airspace.
Switzerland, which has cooperated closely in U.S. investigations and
attempts to shut down terrorists' funding networks, has generally
avoided open disputes with the U.S. government. But the wording of the
seven-member Cabinet's statement was sharp.
"In the view of the Federal Council, the use of Swiss airspace for an
abduction cannot be tolerated," the statement said. "There is evidence
that basic norms of international law were violated."
Daniel Wendell, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in the Swiss capital,
Bern, said he was aware of the decision but had no specific comment.
But Wendell reiterated, "The United States has not used the airspace
or airports of any country for the purpose of transporting a detainee
to a country where he will be tortured."
The Swiss investigation concerns the alleged abduction of Osama Hassan
Mustafa Nasr, known as Abu Omar, from a street in Milan, Italy. The
CIA allegedly flew Nasr from Aviano air base in Italy across
Switzerland to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and then on to Cairo,
Egypt, on Feb. 17, 2003.
Nasr, who was allegedly tortured during his imprisonment in Egypt, was
ordered to be released Sunday by an Egyptian State Security Court that
ruled his detention for four years in Egypt was unfounded.
Italian authorities have been holding a preliminary hearing in Milan
to decide whether to indict 26 Americans and five Italian intelligence
officials on criminal charges in the case. The hearing will conclude
Friday.
Two weeks ago, German prosecutors said they had issued arrest warrants
for 13 suspected CIA agents who allegedly abducted a German citizen of
Lebanese descent, Khaled al-Masri, in an apparently botched anti-
terrorist operation.
Al-Masri says he was detained in December 2003 at the Serbian-
Macedonian border and then flown by the CIA to a jail in Afghanistan,
where he was abused. He says he was let go in Albania five months
later and told he had been seized in a case of mistaken identity.
Swiss authorities and European investigators acknowledge that they may
never be able to arrest the U.S. agents, but the moves have added to
strains in U.S.-European relations over how to combat terrorism.
The European Parliament on Wednesday approved a report accusing
Britain, Germany, Italy and other European nations of turning a blind
eye to CIA flights transporting terror suspects to secret prisons
overseas in an apparent breach of EU human rights standards.
Switzerland, which is not in the EU, is not mentioned in that report,
which deals mainly with members of the 27-nation bloc.
Swiss prosecutors opened an investigation into the Nasr case in
December 2005 and applied to the Cabinet a year later for permission
to start proceedings against those involved in the kidnapping on
suspicion that they violated the country's law on foreign agents.
The federal prosecutor's office has evidence that a CIA team kidnapped
Nasr in Milan and then took him on the flights to Cairo, the Cabinet's
statement said.
"Switzerland does not tolerate human rights violations even in the
fight against terrorism," it said.
Under Swiss law, a sentence of up to three years in prison can be
imposed on anyone who undertakes actions for a foreign government on
Swiss territory without permission.
The law also specifies a prison term of at least one year for
abduction through violence, trickery or threats, followed by delivery
to a foreign agency or organization outside Switzerland.
According to the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation, U.S.-
registered planes suspected of being used by the CIA crossed Swiss
airspace on at least 74 occasions since 2001.
One plane, registered to the U.S. Department of Defense, flew across
the country twice on Feb. 17, 2003, on a flight from Ramstein to
Aviano and back again to Ramstein.
Italian prosecutors reportedly have identified the plane - a Learjet
35 with the call sign SPAR92 - as being used to fly Nasr to Ramstein,
from where he was taken on another plane to Cairo.
If the case in Italy goes to trial, it would be the first criminal
prosecution involving the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, in
which terror suspects are secretly transferred for interrogation to
third countries. Critics of the program say some suspects may have
been tortured after being delivered.
The Federal Council said it rejected an application from prosecutors
to investigate a second case involving an alleged CIA agent seeking
information on members of a labor union in Switzerland. The council
said the second case did not involve any serious infraction of the
law, unlike the Abu Omar case.
___
Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Geneva, Colleen Barry in
Milan and Jan Sliva in Strasbourg, France, contributed to this report.