10 Jan 2007

The UK Government must call for the closure of Guantanamo Bay detention facility and fully investigate allegations that CIA “torture flights” carrying terror suspects transited UK territory, said the human rights group Liberty.

In a letter sent to Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett to mark the fifth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay, Liberty warned that the UK could be in violation of domestic and international human rights law if it fails to adequately address allegations that CIA flights carried terror suspects via UK airspace to face possible torture and ill-treatment in secret CIA prisons and in Guantanamo Bay.

Liberty also requested the Foreign Secretary take responsibility for the remaining UK residents held in Guantanamo Bay and in particular Mr. Bisher al-Rawi, who is suffering mental illness according to his lawyers.

Liberty Director Shami Chakrabarti said:

“When the world's leading democracies indulge in kidnap and torture, they inspire tyrants and terrorists alike.

Number 10 refusals to call for the closure of Guantanamo are an international embarrassment. Its refusal to investigate CIA torture flights is a national disgrace.”

Liberty first alerted the-then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in November 2005 of its fears that the UK is in breach of domestic and international law by allowing CIA “extraordinary rendition” flights to land and re-fuel in Britain. The 09 January 2007 letter sent to Foreign Secretary Beckett and the dossier of previous correspondence is available on www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk

Contact: Jen Corlew on 0207 378 3656 or 0797 3 831 128

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. January 11 2007 marks the fifth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay detention facility by US authorities.

2. On Tuesday 9th January 2007 a Milan court heard arguments on whether to try CIA and Italian agents on charges of kidnapping a terrorism suspect in Milan and flying him to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. The involvement of Italian and US security services in extraordinary rendition have been bolstered by a deposition from the former head of Italy’s military intelligence agency ADM, Gianfranco Battelli. He also admitted the CIA met with him after 9/11 to discuss involvement in the extraordinary rendition programme.

3. On 4th January 2007 the Guardian reported that newly discovered flight records indicate that secret CIA flights flew to the British territory of Diego Garcia, where the US has an airbase.

4. On 3rd January 2007 the Washington Post highlighted an FBI report on allegations of abuse at Guantanamo Bay prison http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301759.html

5. In an interview for the New Statesman on 18 December 2006, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said, “We are being told the things we need to know, which are the things that affect us,” in reference to allegations that the US kept the UK in the dark over extraordinary rendition flights through the UK.

6. On 6 September 2006 US President Bush acknowledged the existence of secret CIA prisons outside US borders. The US claims that detainees in secret prisons are not tortured. However, in 2002, Jay Bybee, the Assistant US Attorney General, suggested that for pain to be defined as torture it should be severe enough to potentially result in organ failure or death.

7. On 26 June 2006 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed a resolution calling on all member states, including the UK, to pressure the US into ending rendition flights, closing secret prisons and changing their own laws and practices to guarantee the rights of persons captured from, detained in or transported through their states. Eighteen members of the UK Parliament from the main political parties are on PACE.

8. On 7 June 2006 the Council of Europe released a report which concluded that CIA flights carrying terror suspects likely to face torture have been given access to UK airspace and airports.

9. On 26 May 2006 the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights concluded that the Government was not doing enough to investigate whether UK airports are being used by secret CIA flights involved in the practice of extraordinary rendition.

10. Liberty has called on the Government to support legislation which would require the Secretary of State to force any suspicious aircraft in UK airspace to land and that plane to be searched.

11. The Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee and the All Parliamentary Subject Group on Extraordinary Rendition are leading separate investigations into allegations of rendition flights.

12. 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.

13. The Guardian newspaper 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.