BRUSSELS, Sept 15: The European Union condemned on Friday the detention of terrorism suspects by the United States in secret overseas prisons, whose existence President George Bush first acknowledged last week.

European nations had held back from criticising Washington over the matter after it first emerged in media reports last year, and said last December they were satisfied with US statements denying any wrongdoing.

“The existence of secret detention facilities where detained persons are kept in a legal vacuum is not in conformity with international humanitarian law and international criminal law,” Finnish Foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja told a news conference after the bloc’s 25 ministers discussed Mr Bush’s comments.

“We reiterate that in combating terrorism, human rights and humanitarian standards have to be maintained,” said Tuomioja, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

Mr Bush publicly acknowledged the CIA held high-level terrorism suspects, including alleged Sept 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in secret overseas locations.

He defended the secret detention and questioning of terrorism suspects and said the CIA treated them humanely and did not torture. The detention program, disclosed last year by The Washington Post, provoked an international outcry.

“Secret prisons are illegal, immoral, and counter-productive in any strategy to win hearts and minds,” EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries said in a statement on Friday.

Mr Bush announced last week Khalid Mohammed and 13 others were transferred recently to the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention centre run by the Pentagon to be prosecuted in the future.

“We acknowledge the intention of the US administration to treat all detainees in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva convention,” Mr Tuomioja said.

Mr Bush has not revealed the location of secret overseas jails, but EU member Poland and candidate country Romania have been accused of hosting such jails by an investigator for Europe’s human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe.—Reuters