BERLIN, Dec 14: The German parliament was seeking on Wednesday to establish how much the government knew about a suspected CIA policy of abducting and illegally transporting terror suspects across Europe.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble were questioned by lawmakers behind closed doors before a parliamentary debate.

The case of Khaled El Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent who was abducted in Macedonia in 2003 and flown to Afghanistan for questioning before being released five months later, is expected to feature prominently in the debate.

Mr Masri last week filed a landmark lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency in a US federal court, alleging that he was wrongfully abducted and abused as a prisoner.

His case has fuelled the controversy over the alleged secret prisons run by the CIA and prisoner flights through Europe.

The Council of Europe, a 46-member rights and democracy body, on Tuesday said the allegations of secret CIA prisons were credible and said the United States appeared to have illegally abducted and detained individuals and that some European governments may have colluded.

A report concluded that “the information gathered to date reinforced the credibility of the allegations concerning the transport and temporary detention of detainees — outside all judicial procedure — in European countries.”

Dick Marty, the Swiss parliamentarian leading the probe, said that the fact that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had failed to categorically deny that detainees were transported or held in Europe substantiated the claims.

The Council of Europe findings will intensify pressure on the United States to explain its policy on terror suspects.

Germany, home to the largest US airbase in Europe, is, according to press reports, the hub of a network of hundreds of flights carrying suspects for questioning in other countries.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during Rice’s visit to Berlin last week that the United States had admitted that the CIA mistakenly detained Masri.

But US officials said Merkel had possibly misunderstood Rice’s words.

Both Steinmeier and Schaeuble have already denied any involvement in the abduction of Masri.

Otto Schily, who was interior minister in the government of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, has said that he was only informed by the US authorities of Masri’s abduction after he had been released in May 2004.—AFP