BERLIN, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The CIA tried to persuade Germany to silence EU protests about human rights abuses by Morocco linked to the agency's rendition flights, a newspaper said.
According to a classified intelligence report obtained by the Guardian newspaper, the Central Intelligence Agency offered Berlin access to a German al-Qaida suspect held in Morocco. In return, the U.S. intelligence agency demanded that Germany help "avert pressure from (the) EU" over human rights abuses in Morocco, the newspaper said.
The report describes Morocco as a "valuable partner in the fight against terrorism," the newspaper said.
German agents questioned the prisoner suspected of being involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Mohammed Haidar Zammar, after he had been transferred to Syria on a rendition flight.
"After the CIA offered a deal to Germany, EU countries adopted an almost universal policy of downplaying criticism of human rights records in countries where terrorist suspects have been held," the Guardian writes. "They have also sidestepped questions about secret CIA flights partly because of growing evidence of their complicity."
The report comes as Germany probes its questionable record in the war on terror in a parliamentary inquiry.
