IMPEACH BUSH

The CIA ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005 where terrorism suspects could be interrogated free of US legal restraints, a Council of Europe investigation concluded today.

It revealed that Abu Zubaydah, believed to be a senior al-Qaida member, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, were held and interrogated in Poland.

None of the prisoners had access to the Red Cross and many were subjected to what George Bush has called the CIA's "enhanced" interrogation, which critics have condemned as torture.

The report said that detainees had been subjected to months of solitary confinement, constant shackling in cramped cells and poor food. They were also said to have been kept naked for weeks and exposed to extremes of temperature to prevent sleep.

The report said that within weeks of the 9/11 attacks, Nato signed an agreement with the US that allowed civilian jets used by the CIA during its so-called extraordinary rendition programme to move across member states' airspace.

Dick Marty, a Swiss senator who ran the investigation, said in his report that the "the highest state authorities were aware of the CIA's illegal activities on their territories".

Politicians from Poland and Romania, as well as a spokesman for the CIA, have rejected the findings of the investigation.

The report stated: "Large numbers of people have been abducted from various locations across the world and transferred to countries where they have been persecuted and where it is known that torture is common practice.

"Still others have simply disappeared for indefinite periods and have been held in secret prisons, including in member states of the Council of Europe, the existence and operations of which have been concealed ever since."

It said the rendition, abduction and detention of terrorist suspects always took place outside the territory of the United States, where such actions "would no doubt have been ruled unlawful and unconstitutional".

"Obviously, these actions are also unacceptable under the laws of European countries, which nonetheless tolerated them or colluded actively in carrying them out."

Mr Marty also accused European countries of obstructing "the search for the truth" by invoking the concept of "state secrets".

"This criticism applies to Germany and Italy, in particular," his report said.

Mr Marty's report said collaboration by US allies was critical to the secret detention programme, which took place within the framework of Nato's security policy.

"While it is likely that very few people in the countries concerned, including in the governments themselves, knew of the existence of the centres, we have sufficient grounds to declare that the highest state authorities were aware of the CIA's illegal activities on their territories."

"High-value detainees" were held in Poland at the Stare Kiejkuty intelligence training base, Me Marty cited confidential sources as saying. Americans had full control of the detainees, the report said.

Mr Marty claimed the United States offered "formidable" support for Romania's bid to join Nato in exchange for cooperation.

A Polish foreign ministry spokesman said Mr Marty did not offer "any concrete proof". "There were no secret prisons in Poland," he said. A Romanian spokesman said the credibility of Mr Marty's sources "cannot be assessed".

A CIA spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, said: "While I've yet to see the report, Europe has been the source of grossly inaccurate allegations about the CIA and counterterrorism."

In Germany, a government spokesman, Thomas Steg, strongly rejected the accusation that it hindered the probe.

The full extent of British logistic support for the extraordinary rendition programme was first disclosed by the Guardian, which reported in September 2005 that aircraft operated by the CIA had flown in and out of UK civilian and military airports hundreds of times.

There were at least 10 flights - six from Kabul - to Poland between 2002 and 2005, according to the report.

The report lists eight of the CIA flights, with one each originating in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and Rabat, Morocco, and says it can be "demonstrated" that the majority of them were "deliberately disguised".