BUCHAREST, Jan. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu on Wednesday denied the existence of secret prisons allegedly run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Romanian territory.

    In a TV broadcast, Tariceanu invited reporters from the Swiss newspaper Sonntags Blick, which on Sunday had alleged the existence of CIA prisons in Romania, to make a truth-finding visit to the supposed prison sites.

    The Romanian authorities have encouraged European Commission experts to visit these sites, he added.

    Tariceanu stated that he had also asked Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu to request that Egyptian and Swiss authorities provide evidence to support their claims about Romania hosting the secret prisons.

    The weekly, SonntagsBlick, claimed that Swiss intelligence had intercepted a fax alleging that the Egyptian Embassy in London had found, through its own sources, that the United States had detained 23 terror suspects in Romania.

    Allegations that the CIA had established secret detention centers in Eastern Europe were first reported last November in The Washington Post. Romania has repeatedly denied such reports. Enditem