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Danish opposition calls for probe over possible CIA rendition
Oct 21, 2007, 15:17 GMT
Copenhagen - Two Danish opposition parties Sunday called for a probe into possible cooperation between Denmark and the CIA after a newspaper published an account of the arrest of an Egyptian national who had refugee status in Denmark.
Egyptian Abu Talal was arrested in 1995 in Croatia while on his way to neighbouring Bosnia - where he allegedly planned to join an Islamist group - and handed over to US authorities and then to Egypt where he is believed to have been executed, the Politiken newspaper reported Sunday.
Talal was a member of the terrorist-labelled al-Gama'a al-Islamiya and was alleged to have taken part in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Talal, who was granted asylum in 1993, denied any involvement in that event. He was regarded as a threat to Egypt and the US, according to CIA officials quoted by Politiken.
The opposition Social Liberals and the Red-Green Alliance said a probe was necessary since the report suggested that alleged renditions occurred prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.
Hans Jorgen Bonnichsen, head of the Danish security intelligence service (PET) from 1997 to 2006, told broadcaster DR he had not been informed about the case during his tenure.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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