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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has forced Poland to pay 230,000 euros in compensation to Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, two terrorist suspects currently withheld at Guantanamo Bay, for breaching the European Convention on Human Rights, headlines Rzeczpospolita.
Both men were subject to “extraordinary rendition” by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and in December 2002 were transferred to a secret detention facility in northern Poland, where they were subject to illegal “enhanced interrogation techniques” including mock executions and waterboarding. The ECHR ruled “Poland had cooperated in the preparation and execution of the CIA rendition,” but also said the responsibility for using torture lies with the CIA.
Despite findings of several international reports, Polish authorities have consequently denied there was a CIA “black site” in Poland. Leszek Miller, who served as prime minister from 2001 to 2005, said the ruling was “immoral” and “unjust”, and called on the current government to refuse to pay the compensation.
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