(ANSA) - Italians are the biggest opponents of torture, even as a method of extracting information from terrorists, according to an international survey out Tuesday.
The Associated Press-commissioned survey, which was carried out by international polling firm Ipsos, found that 60% of Italians believe there can be no justification whatsoever for employing torture.
Only 23% of Italian respondents said torture could sometimes be justified.
While respondents in other countries allied to America, such as Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Spain and South Korea, were also heavily opposed to torture, the percentages were not as high as in Italy, the poll showed.
The country which showed the least opposition to torture was the United States, where only 36% said torture could never be justified.
One American respondent, a medic, told Ipsos that "I'm convinced torture damages America's image but even though it's a terrible thing, I believe it has to be done to protect our country's security."
When asked about secret interrogations of suspected terrorists, 63% of American respondents said they were in favour of this policy and 32% said they were against. Almost 70% of Italians said they opposed the idea of terrorists being secretly interrogated by the US on national soil.
The survey came amid allegations that America has resorted to illegal methods in Europe in its war on terrorism.
America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is reported to have carried out covert operations in Europe with the possible knowledge or consent of local governments, allegations which have outraged public opinion across the bloc.
The CIA has been accused of 'rendition', the practice of transporting suspects to other countries for interrogation, and using European airports for refuelling stops during these secret transfers.
The agency is also accused of running secret prisons in Eastern Europe, where aggressive interrogation techniques outlawed in the US can be deployed, and sending prisoners to countries like Egypt and Syria where torture is commonplace, as well as grabbing suspects off the streets in European countries.
The European Union is seeking clarification from the US over the reports.
Amnesty International, the London-based human rights organisation, said on Monday that six planes used by the CIA for renditions had made 800 flights in European airspace. But US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted at the start of a five-day European tour on Tuesday that America had acted within the law.
Speaking from Germany, she admitted that the US had flown terror suspects abroad for interrogation but denied that they were tortured in US custody or transferred to other nations to be tortured.
"The United States does not condone torture," she said. Rice did not confirm or deny the existence of secret prisons in Europe.
ABC News reported on Monday that the prisons were shut down last month following the furore in the media. Citing current and ex-CIA agents, the American news network said some prisoners had been relocated to sites in North Africa.
Meanwhile, an Italian opposition party pressed the government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi - a staunch ally of US President George W. Bush - on the issue of the clandestine CIA flights.
The Communist Refoundation party demanded that the government "report to parliament on its role in this business which has involved secret CIA planes landing on Italian soil."
"The government must clarify whether it knew about these methods," the party said.
Berlusconi said last week in a press conference that "we have no information about this (the rendition flights) and we can exclude that any such thing could have happened on our territory."
Last month, Milanese prosecutors requested the extradition from the US of 22 CIA agents accused of abducting an Egyptian
cleric in the city in 2003.
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, the former imam of Milan's main mosque, disappeared mysteriously on February 17, 2003. At the time the Egyptian national was being probed by Milan investigators for suspected links to international terrorism. He was subsequently flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. He is still believed to be in Egypt.
In June this year a Milan judge signed arrest warrants for 13 people that prosecutors say made up the CIA team which carried out the kidnapping. Eight more warrants were issued later.
The Italian government has repeatedly said it knew nothing of the abduction but members of the opposition have voiced "perplexity" that such an operation could have been carried out without the authorities knowing.
