A December 7 memo leaked to the New Statesman reveals that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised the Prime Minister to evade questions about the Government’s responsibility to ensure that alleged CIA flights carrying suspects to face torture are not using UK territory.

Liberty has sent a response today to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw asking the Government to actively cooperate with police inquiries into extraordinary rendition and to support legislation which will safeguard against the practice in UK airspace or airports.

Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said:

“In good faith, Liberty wrote to the Government last year to express growing public concerns about extraordinary rendition. I am sad to say that this document suggests that our requests for robust investigation were met by strategic deflection. The UK Government is not a PR agency for President Bush. The Government may want us to go away but nothing, not even the “special relationship” should compromise our stance against torture.”

Government spokespeople have stated that they are not aware of US requests to render suspects through UK territory after 1998, yet the internal document reveals concerns to the contrary.

Chakrabarti said:

“Both Bush administration Foreign Secretaries Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell publicly admit that the US practices rendition – how then is it possible that the Government has received no requests at all since President Bush declared war on terror?”

Liberty, members of Parliament, the European Union, the news media and others have raised concerns that the Government will be complicit if alleged CIA flights carrying terror suspects to a third country to face torture use UK airports or airspace.

Liberty Press Office: 020 7378 3656 or 07973 831 128

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. In response to Liberty’s request for police to investigate allegations that CIA flights taking suspects to face torture have landed at UK airports, Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Michael Todd confirmed on 19 December 2005 that he will look into “extraordinary rendition” flights on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO.)

2. On 30 November Liberty asked the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to seek assurances from the US that it is not using UK airports to transport suspects to countries that torture and received an unsatisfactory response, which Liberty challenges today.

3. Liberty is calling on the Government to support an amendment, tabled to the Civil Aviation Bill by Baroness d’Souza, which would require the Secretary of State to force any suspicious aircraft in UK airspace to land and that plane to be searched. On 8 December during the Lords Committee Stage of the Civil Aviation Bill, Labour Peers argued that the UK’s international obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation 1944 (the “Chicago Convention”) would be abrogated by the proposals in the amendment. The amendment will be re-tabled at the Report Stage in January 2006.

4. The Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights and an All Party Subject Group led are separately investigating allegations of rendition.

5. The Council of Europe will report on its investigation into secret CIA prisons and extraordinary rendition practices on 21 February 2006.

6. Liberty’s call to action against extraordinary rendition is part of its “No torture, no compromise” campaign which seeks to make the UK government honour its positive obligation to stop torture and ill-treatment.

7. The Guardian revealed on 6 December and 12 September 2005 that airports in Biggin Hill, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brize Norton, Farnborough, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, RAF Mildenhall, Northolt, and Stansted have allowed CIA or CIA-chartered jets to land temporarily. These aircraft had flown into the UK approximately 210 times since 2001.