The United States' refusal to confirm or deny allegations the CIA has run secret prisons in Eastern Europe is a mockery of international law, rights group Amnesty International said on Monday.
The United States has lost credibility by refusing to confront allegations about so-called "black sites", and should conduct a transparent probe to disprove them, Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan told reporters on a visit to Sri Lanka.
"I think they're mocking international law, they are mocking the rule of law that the US values," Khan said. "What it shows is that again the United States is refusing to recognise its responsibilities to investigate properly."
"Certainly they would be breaking the law if there are black sites," she added. "They are weakening the democratic principles of their own society in the name of security."
"We interviewed detainees in Yemen who claimed to have been held in some of these black sites," Khan said.
The United States has refused for a month to confirm or deny media reports it has secretly held prisoners in Eastern Europe and covertly transported detainees through airports across the continent.
On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the way the United States treats terrorism suspects and told European allies to be trusting as they cooperate to prevent new attacks.
But in a lengthy statement before leaving on a trip to Europe, Rice did not directly address the allegation of secret jails.
"The whole issue is that they lack credibility at this point," Khan said. "They should institute an inquiry into it straight away and publish the results." "The US government feels in some cases that it's free to use whatever means it can in the pursuit of the war on terror," she added. "It's not just a question of being above the law. It also feels that some people are beneath the law."