Spain is launching an investigation into claims that CIA planes carrying terror suspects made secret stopovers on Spanish soil. Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso made the announcement on Spanish television on Tuesday. He said that if proven, such activities could damage relations between the Spanish and US governments.
According to Spanish press reports, the CIA is suspected of having used Majorca for such prisoner transfers. "If it were confirmed as true, we would, of course, be looking at very serious cases," Mr Alonso told the private channel Telecinco.
The suspect flights - 10 in total - came to light in a report submitted by Spain's Civil Guard to the prosecutor's office of the Balearics Supreme Court in June, Spain's El Pais newspaper reported. The first flight allegedly landed in Palma, on the island of Majorca, on 22 January 2004.
Meanwhile, members of the European Parliament have urged the European Commission to investigate claims that the CIA used prisons in eastern Europe for the interrogation of terror suspects. |