Germany denies new allegations on U.S. secret prison

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) Germany today denied allegations that prominent al Qaeda prisoners, including an accused mastermind of the September. 11 attacks, may have been secretly questioned at a US base on its soil.

The allegations were published by Reprieve, a British legal charity representing detainees held by the United States at its Guantanamo Bay prison camp on Cuba.

A team of European Parliament members (MEPs), investigating alleged US abuses in the war on terrorism, reacted cautiously to the new material but called for further investigation.

Reprieve said one Guantanamo detainee, Binyam Mohamed, reported he was told by Moroccan interrogators in 2003 or early 2004 that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an alleged central figure in the September.

11 plot, had been held for interrogation at a US prison at an airforce base in Germany.

Another Guantanamo prisoner, Hassan bin Attash, said he was told by Jordanian interrogators that his brother Waleed Tawfiq bin Attash was also being held at a US base in Germany.

A third man, Shaker Aamer, said he had changed planes at a German base while being transferred by the United States from Afghanistan to Guantanamo in 2002.

German government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters: ''There is nothing behind these allegations.'' He said there were not, and had never been, any US secret prisons in Germany.

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