WARSAW: Poland is paying a quarter of a million dollars to two terror suspects allegedly tortured by the CIA in a secret facility in this country, prompting outrage among many here who feel they are being punished for American wrongdoing.

Europe’s top human rights court impo­sed the penalty against Poland, setting a Saturday deadline. It irks many in Poland that their country is facing legal repercussions for the secret rendition and detention programme which the CIA operated under then-president George W. Bush in several countries across the world after the 9/11 attacks. So far no US officials have been held accountable, but the European Court of Human Rights has shown that it doesn’t want to let European powers that helped the programme off the hook.

The Polish Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it was processing the payments. However, neither Polish officials nor the US Embassy in Warsaw would give any further details.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2015

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