Britain did not allow CIA 'torture' planes to use its airports: police

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

LONDON (AFP) - Britain did not allow CIA planes to use its airports to secretly transfer terrorism suspects to third countries or US-run jails, chief police officers said late Friday at the end of an 18-month probe.

The findings fly in the face of a Council of Europe report published Friday which claims the United States and its NATO allies secretly agreed to allow the CIA to hold terror suspects in Europe.

A probe was launched 18 months ago by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) after human rights group Liberty claimed that flights chartered by the US government through the CIA landed in British airports.

Liberty was concerned that the flights were on their way to jails where suspects risked torture. It was also claimed the CIA "extraordinary rendition" flights have flown into Britain more than 210 times since 2001.

"The issue of rendition has been aired extensively in the media and has featured prominently in official reports over a recent period of months," said the ACPO probe, which was led by Michael Todd, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070609/ts_afp/europeciausrightsattacksbritain_070609021153

[izzie]

1. I hope that is not a lie by not telling the whole truth.

Bush and Co do that type stuff a lot. My guess is that they landed in Scotland and not England. Just as we do not have these camps in the US but in Cuba. It is only USA land when we pay the rent.

[Solly Mack]

2. Exactly

18 December 2005
Protest over 'prisoner flights'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4538444.stm

Amnesty International has claimed that planes refuelled in Scotland after transferring detainees to countries where they risked torture.

It said it had information about two flights in 2001 and one in 2002 where planes had landed at Prestwick after taking detainees to Jordan and Egypt.

15 December 2005
Call for 'prisoner flights' probe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4532644.stm

Amnesty International has claimed CIA flights refuelled in Scotland hours after transferring detainees to countries where they risked torture.

17.12.05
CIA rendition flights at Prestwick Airport confirmed
http://www.uk-airport-news.info/prestwick-airport-news-171205.htm

Amnesty International yesterday told how one terror suspect was allegedly abducted in Pakistan and taken to Jordan, two were flown from Sweden to Cairo and the fourth was taken from Indonesia to Cairo on board the same Gulfstream V turbojet, which on all three occasions subsequently flew to Prestwick airport to refuel.

However, there is no evidence to suggest that any terror suspects were on board the aircraft, which it is claimed was chartered by the CIA, when it landed on Scottish soil.


Press release, 12/15/2005
UK: CIA rendition flights used UK airfields
http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGEUR450592005




Records show that three of these flights were directly connected to known cases of rendition:


On 23 October 2001, witnesses saw Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed being bundled on board a Gulfstream V, registration N379P, by a group of masked men. The plane flew Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed to Jordan. The following day, the Gulfstream flew to Glasgow Prestwick to refuel, then back to Dulles International near Washington DC. Amnesty International has repeatedly requested information from the US authorities about the current whereabouts and legal status of Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, but has received no reply.

On 18/19 December 2001, according to an inquiry conducted by the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsmen, the Gulfstream V took Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed al-Zari from Sweden to Cairo. Amnesty International's records show that the plane had made several trips between Cairo and Prestwick earlier in the month, and stopped to refuel at Prestwick after leaving the two detainees in Cairo, where they were reportedly tortured. In March 2005, the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman in Sweden, having reviewed the Swedish government’s role in the transfer to Egypt of the two detainees, concluded that the "the Swedish Security Police lost control of the situation at the airport and during the transport to Egypt. The American security personnel took charge… Such total surrender of power to exercise public authority on Swedish territory is clearly contrary to Swedish law."


On 12 January 2002, according to Indonesian security officials, the Gulfsteam V, N379P, took Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni from Jakarta to Cairo. Amnesty International records confirm previous media reports that when the plane left Cairo, it flew to Prestwick to refuel. Iqbal Madni has since been returned to US custody, and is currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He does not have a lawyer, and other detainees have said in the last month that he is in poor condition and "at risk of losing his mind".



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4461470.stm#map

[Kagemusha]

5. Like they only refuelled in Britain after unloading human cargo elsewhere?

Let's say that's one possibility. All sorts of little lies to tell while conveying some of the truth.

[izzie]

8. And their backers will grab at those odd things.

It becomes for them that we did not do it. End of the story for them.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Plane spotters say bullshit.

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/cia+plane+spotting/261818

Ooops.

CIA never knew that there were folks who spend all their free time tracking airplanes as a hobby.


Ooops.

[saigon68]

4. History is going to Judge these Fuckers harshly

[legin]

6. Send them a nice message - link

http://www.acpo.police.uk/contact.asp

The name, address bit can be filled with rubbish.

[legin]

7. I think give this one max publicity

I think this lying bilge was probably supposed to be a 'quiet lie' to be used as government committee meetings, etc.

Publicising it widely will start to undermine the credibility of the chief police officers organisation.

[DrDan]

9. This is simply carefully worded

"There was no evidence that UK airports were used . . . "

of course not, the US has several airfields, Lakenheath, Mildenhall to name just a couple.

[gratuitous]

10. Parsing the sentence very carefully

"Britain did not allow CIA planes to use its airports to secretly transport terrorism suspects . . ."

We can conclude that the British government had full knowledge, so it wasn't secret.

Or we can conclude that these weren't terrorism suspects but hapless captives.

And the statement remains "true," but our worst suspicions are still true.