'Spirited to ghost prisons'
2005-02-21 08:29
Washington - The US Central Intelligence Agency allegedly whisked foreign terror suspects to clandestine interrogation facilities, using a Boeing 737 plane specially dedicated for that purpose, Newsweek magazine reported on Sunday.
The allegation, if proven true, is "further evidence that a global 'ghost' prison system, where terror suspects are secretly interrogated, is being operated by the CIA," Newsweek reported.
The weekly magazine wrote that it had obtained the aircraft's flight plans, indicating that the CIA has used the plane "as part of a top-secret global charter servicing clandestine interrogation facilities used in the war on terror."
Newsweek said US Federal Aviation Administration records show that the plane was owned by Premier Executive Transport Services, a now defunct company based in Massachusetts.
US intelligence sources told the magazine the company fit the profile of a suspected CIA front.
The plane's record dates back to December 2002 and shows flights up until February 7, the magazine said.
The magazine also noted previously disclosed flight plans of a smaller Gulfstream V jet used for similar purposes.
Newsweek quoted Khaled el-Masri, a German national of Lebanese descent, who claimed to have been abducted by US operatives while on holiday in Macedonia on December 31, 2003.
Three weeks later, Masri said, he was put on an airplane to Afghanistan, where he was shackled, punched and interrogated about extremists at his mosque in Ulm, Germany, Newsweek said.
Masri said he climbed high stairs "like onto a regular passenger airplane," according to Newsweek. He was released months later and dropped off on a deserted road leading into Macedonia, he said.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily sought an apology from CIA chief Porter Goss in a recent meeting to discuss the case, Newsweek said, citing German sources. The case is being investigated by a Munich prosecutor as a kidnapping case, the weekly said.
- AFP