Lithuania and Romania ‘allowed CIA secret prisons’ on their territory

Lithuania and Romania violated the European ban on torture by allowing the CIA to operate secret prisons on their territory, ruled the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday.

It follows allegations against both countries by US captives Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

They were both taken in after the September 2001 attacks in the US and are now being held in Guantanamo Bay.

The European Court of Human Rights said on Thursday it had concluded Lithuania hosted a CIA detention centre from February 2005 to March 2006 and that Abu Zubaydah had been held there.