The European Parliament on Thursday backed its party leaders' decision to launch an investigation into the secret prisons allegedly set up by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Europe.

Party leaders of the body made a decision late Wednesday to set up a temporary committee to investigate the case.

The draft mandate and the composition of this committee will be determined in January, the Parliament said in a statement.

Previous news reports revealed that the CIA set up secret prisons in Eastern Europe to detain terrorist suspects, and illegally transported them in and out of Europe.

Source: Xinhua