[JURIST] The European Parliament said Thursday that EU member states’ complicity with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official websites] rendition program [JURIST news archive] has led to violations of fundamental rights and must end immediately. Members of European Parliament pointed to the recent disclosures [press release] surrounding the National Security Agency [official website] PRISM program [JURIST backgrounder] and revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden [JURIST podcast] as evidence of years of unchecked violations. Stretching back over seven years [JURIST report], the European Parliament has condemned member states involvement with the CIA’s alleged illegal seizure and detention of terrorist suspects, stating that the governing body must reassert its right to fully investigate the matter and try those involved if it wishes to ensure its credibility.

In December 2011 two international human rights organizations accused European countries of suppressing evidence of their roles [JURIST report] in the CIA rendition program. In 2010 an Italian appeals court upheld the convictions [JURIST report] of 23 former CIA agents convicted in the 2003 kidnapping and rendition [JURIST news archive] of terror suspect Nasr, increasing their sentences. Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized on the streets of Milan in 2003 by CIA agents with the help of Italian operatives, then allegedly transferred to Egypt and tortured by Egypt’s State Security Intelligence before being released [JURIST reports] in February 2007. In 2009 US President Barack Obama announced [JURIST report] the US would continue its practice of sending terror detainees to third countries for interrogation with increased oversight by the State Department to prevent torture.