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12/08/2005:

"CIA 'emptied secret jails' before Rice Europe trip"

The CIA last month emptied two secret prisons in Eastern Europe of terrorist suspects in a frantic effort to defuse the "rendition" controversy ahead of Condoleezza Rice's visit to Europe, sources in the agency have claimed.

Eleven leading al-Qa'eda suspects were transferred to a new CIA facility in North Africa, current and former officers told ABC television.
news.telegraph.co.uk

Rice speaks out against torture of detainees


The US appeared to bow to international pressure yesterday by declaring it would respect international laws against cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners.

After being bombarded with questions about alleged secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe while in Ukraine, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, said: "As a matter of ... policy, the United States' obligations under the [UN convention against torture] which prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment extends to US personnel wherever they are, whether they are in the US or outside the US."

Ms Rice's use of words represented at least a rhetorical shift. Until yesterday, the White House was resisting draft Senate legislation promoted by John McCain, suggesting international legal restraints on all American interrogators.