Obama dismays Europe by keeping rendition option

By Phil Stewart

ROME (Reuters) - Opponents in Europe of secret CIA transfers of terrorism suspects are disappointed that U.S. President Barack Obama is keeping rendition as an option in the fight against terrorism.

CIA Director Leon Panetta told a Senate hearing on February 6 that suspects might still be sent to third countries for questioning, subject to assurances they would be treated humanely, an approach he reconfirmed on Wednesday.

"Rendition is still permitted," he told reporters in Washington. "If we render someone we are obviously going to seek assurances from that country that their human rights are protected and they are not mistreated."

European observers note that the same assurances were made under former President George W. Bush, yet past rendition cases have given rise to allegations by human rights lawyers that detainees were tortured while in the custody of third countries.

"The Bush administration said we only send them to places after the embassy assures us that not a hair on their heads will be touched," said Claudio Fava, an EU lawmaker who wrote a European Parliament report on CIA secret flights and prisons.

"But obviously, if you entrust a presumed terrorist to the Egyptian or Moroccan police, that assurance is worth little."

European critics of President George W. Bush's handling of the "war on terrorism" had cheered Obama's orders to close Guantanamo Bay prison, secret detention centres and ensure interrogations adhere to the Geneva Conventions.

The realisation that rendition will continue to be an option for the new administration surprised some observers, and dampened European hopes that Obama might lift Bush-era secrecy over any past operations in Europe that may have led to torture.