By ELAINE GANLEY
Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) -- The CIA ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005 to interrogate detainees in the war on terror, a European investigator said in a report released Friday.
The report by Swiss Sen. Dick Marty also accused Germany and Italy of obstructing probes into alleged secret detentions by the CIA.
Top terror suspects Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah were held and interrogated in Poland, according to the report, which cited unidentified CIA sources. Mohammed is the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and Abu Zubaydah is a suspected senior al-Qaida operative.
The report also said the "highest state authorities" in countries involved knew of the alleged detention centers.
Jerzy Szmajdzinski, Poland's defense minister from 2001-05, sarcastically brushed aside the accusations, saying: "Of course, I organized everything and gave them a red-carpet welcome." He declined further comment on "political fiction."
Romanian Sen. Norica Nicolai rejected Marty's findings as "totally unfounded."
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."
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