EU to Probe Secret E. European CIA Jails

The European Commission said Thursday it will investigate a Washington Post report that the CIA maintains secret jails in Eastern European countries.

The newspaper reported Wednesday the U.S. intelligence agency maintained the facilities off U.S. soil to interrogate terror suspects. It named several Middle Eastern and Asian countries, but said at the request of U.S. government officials, it withheld the names of the European countries to prevent retaliatory attacks on them.

EC spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing told the BBC a formal investigation had not been launched, as any such prisons would probably violate EU rights laws.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it wants access to all foreign terror suspects held by the United States.