Quotes of the Day

Hayatt, a 30-year-old Pakistani, says he never had any trouble with the police in five years of living in Athens. That is until, he claims, several Greek and British intelligence officers kidnapped him a week after the July 7 bombings in London. "What happened," he stutters in halting Greek, "was frightening."

Hayatt alleges that he was hooded and bundled into a van with six others, then "taken to a nice house about 30 minutes from Athens. I was asked about what I knew of the London bombings. I said, 'Nothing. Just what I saw on TV.'" His captors, Hayatt says, spoke Greek and English. He claims they did not physically harm him but threatened reprisals against his family if he didn't talk. In recent weeks, 27 other Pakistani men have filed complaints with Greek authorities alleging that they, too, were snatched and interrogated but never charged with any crime. The men say they were questioned about calls they supposedly made to people linked to the London bombers, says Frangiscos Ragoussis, the Greek lawyer representing Hayatt and six other Pakistanis. Ragoussis also represented a member of the Greek terrorist organization November 17 who is serving multiple life sentences.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the allegations are "complete nonsense" and Greek Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis said the incidents "had never and will never happen." Last week the Athens weekly Proto Thema named nine of 10 intelligence officers it said were involved. Ragoussis, who says he filed a complaint with the state prosecutor in July but decided to go public after lack of progress in the investigation, is suing the nine men for kidnap and torture.

• ANTHEE CARASSAVA. With reporting by Helen Gibson
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