Human Rights

A report by German public television ARD has disclosed that the US European Command (EUCOM) headquarters in Stuttgart-Vaihingen played a central role in unlawfully transferring six suspected terrorists to Guantanamo Bay.

The report, which was broadcast on the ARD program "Report Mainz" Monday night, said EUCOM organized the abduction of six Algerian prisoners from Tuzla, Bosnia to Incirlik, Turkey in January 2002. From there, they were flown to Guantanamo, where they are being held without charges.

The program based its information on previously secret EUCOM documents it had received.

The German government's human rights representative Günter Nooke said if American human rights abuses were planned on German ground, these allegations had to be discussed "at the highest level." He told "Report Mainz" it had to be clarified who carried the responsibility for the action.

"Even in the fight against terrorism, I don't think we should give a discount on human rights," Nooke said.

Although the prisoners never set foot on German soil, conspiracy to commit human rights violations is a crime under European law.

Prosecutor still needs to evaluate the allegations

Manfred Nowak, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, assessed the prisoners' treatment during the flights as "a serious violation of human rights," as well as "torture." The EUCOM document was reason enough for an inquiry by German authorities.

"Of course this would be a case for the German prosecutor's office, as it happened in Germany and was coordinated from Germany," Nowak said.

But the prosecutor's office responsible in Stuttgart said it had yet to determine whether criminal prosecution was necessary.

"We need more time to assess the situation," district attorney Bettina Vetter told DW-WORLD.DE.

Deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg referred to the jurisdiction of US authorities in the matter. The German government "naturally" could not disclose any information about a US facility, Steg told German media.

However, Steg said all US facilities in Germany were subject to national and international law.

"It isn't outside of legal jurisdiction," he said.

Should Germany have access to secret US documents?

The television report has raised the question of how much German authorities knew about US activities at the base. "Report Mainz" said that there are German liaison officers working at EUCOM. Hans Christian Ströbele from the opposition Green party said he would put in an official inquiry to the government on the matter.

It couldn't be that criminal offences by US authorities were being supported in Germany, Ströbele said.

Germany is one of several European countries suspected of helping the CIA detain and deport terror suspects. German lawmaker Wolfgang Kreissl-Dörfler, a member of a European Parliament committee investigating the CIA allegations, said the current EUCOM case was "highly volatile." He said he would bring it before the committee.

Kreissl-Dörfler also said Germany had a right to see the relevant documents.

"For us, it's important that the German government gets a look into these US military documents if human rights were violated," he said.

EUCOM has declined to comment on the allegations.