BERN, Switzerland — A Swiss parliamentary committee voted Tuesday against condemning the United States for purported secret prisons in Europe after members decided there was insufficient evidence.

Luzi Stamm, head of the foreign affairs committee of Switzerland's lower house of parliament, said neither the panel, nor Switzerland's governing federal council, have any proof the prisons exist.

The committee took up the issue after the weekly SonntagsBlick published what it reported was an intercepted Egyptian government fax on CIA detention centres in Europe.

The paper reported Swiss intelligence intercepted the fax, which said the Egyptian Embassy in London had determined through its own sources the United States had detained 23 terror suspects in Romania.

The Swiss government has also been looking into allegations clandestine U.S. planes carried terror suspects through Switzerland's airspace more than 70 times since 2001.

Dick Marty, the Swiss legislator leading an investigation into the alleged prisons on behalf of the Council of Europe, last week accused the United States of violating international human rights law in its war on terror.

Marty said there was no question the CIA was undertaking illegal activities in Europe in its transportation and detention of terror suspects.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has refused to address questions about clandestine CIA detention centres but said the United States acts within the law.