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Extraordinary Rendition & Torture
Local articles
News from around the world
- Whitehall devised torture policy for terror detainees - A policy governing the interrogation of terrorism suspects in Pakistan that led to British citizens and residents being tortured was devised by MI5 lawyers and figures in government, according to evidence heard in court.A number of British terrorism suspects who have been detained without trial in Pakistan say they were tortured by Pakistani intelligence agents before being questioned by MI5. In some cases their accusations are supported by medical evidence.
Source: The Guardian [17th Feb 2009]
- Declassified DoD Documents Suggest Detainees Were Tortured to Death - Newly declassified Defense Department documents describe a pattern of “abusive” behavior by U.S. military interrogators that appears to have caused the deaths of several suspected terrorists imprisoned at a detention center in Afghanistan in December 2002, just two days after former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques against prisoners in that country.
Source: Intel Daily [16th Feb 2009]
- Human rights committee calls Miliband and Smith for questioning over torture claims - David Miliband has been asked to join Jacqui Smith in appearing before parliament's human rights committee amid growing concern that the government may have breached international law by colluding in the alleged torture of British citizens in Pakistan.MPs and peers from the joint committee on human rights (JCHR) have also asked the attorney general, Lady Scotland, to explain by the end of next week what action she has taken to investigate allegations of "possible criminal wrongdoing by the intelligence and security service personnel" in Pakistan.
Source: The Guardian [11th Feb 2009]
- Call to investigate illegal rendition claims - There were calls yesterday for an investigation into claims that British agents were involved in the interrogation of detainees being held in Ethiopia after extraordinary rendition from neighbouring Somalia.The BBC reported that at least 10 men were held for around 18 months, during which time they claimed they were denied access to lawyers and mistreated, including by being shackled and having their hands cuffed behind their backs for such long periods it caused intense pain.
Source: The Herald [15th Oct 2008]
- MI5 criticised for role in case of torture, rendition and secrecy - MI5 participated in the unlawful interrogation of a British resident now held in Guantánamo Bay, the high court found yesterday in a judgment raising serious questions about the conduct of Britain's security and intelligence agencies.
Source: The Guardian [22nd Aug 2008]
- British Territory Used for US Terrorism Interrogation - According to a former senior American official, it appears another locale can be added to the international roster of interrogation site - one both more obscure and potentially more controversial than the alleged sites in Poland and Romania. The source tells TIME that in 2002 and possibly 2003, the U.S. imprisoned and interrogated one or more terrorism suspects on Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean controlled by the United Kingdom.
Source: Time Magazine [2nd Aug 2008]
- Pentagon releases declassified memo that justified harsh interrogation tactics - The Pentagon has released a now-defunct legal memo that approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques against terror suspects. The newly declassified memo says President George W. Bush's wartime powers trump any international treaties that ban torture.
Source: Israel News [2nd Apr 2008]
- SAS 'held suspects for extraordinary rendition' - British special forces have been used to detain terrorist suspects for extraordinary rendition by the Americans, it has been claimed. Ben Griffin, a former SAS soldier who quit the Army in protest at the ''illegal" tactics and policies of coalition forces, said the Government knew what was happening.
Source: The Telegraph [25th Feb 2008]
- Miliband admits US rendition flights stopped on UK soil - Britain acknowledged today for the first time that US planes on "extraordinary rendition" flights stopped on British soil twice. The admission came from the foreign secretary, David Miliband, who apologised to MPs for incorrect information given by his predecessor, Jack Straw, and the former prime minister Tony Blair.
Source: The Guardian [21st Feb 2008]
- Rendition lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary tossed - The American judicial system handed another victory to executive power today, as a federal court judge in San Jose threw out a lawsuit filed against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen for its involvement in the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. The lawsuit concerned five individuals who claimed to have been kidnapped by the CIA and then transported by Jeppesen to third countries, where they were subjected to torture, far from the glare of the western media.
Source: The Register [14th Feb 2008]
- CIA Director Confirms Use of Waterboarding on Terror Suspects - The director of the Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed that his agency used the extreme interrogation technique known as waterboarding on three terrorism suspects nearly five years ago. In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Michael Hayden urged lawmakers not to place restrictions on the interrogation methods available to U.S. intelligence agencies, as VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.
Source: Voice of America [6th Feb 2008]
- Freedom Of Information: Government blocks access to secret military papers on Diego Garcia - MPs and human rights group have accused ministers of a cover-up over government knowledge of rendition flights and the use of British military bases to hold suspects after the United States launched its war on terror more than six years ago.
Source: The Independent [2nd Feb 2008]
- Pasquill Official Secrets case dismissed - Derek Pasquill, a Foreign Office official charged under the Official Secrets act in connection with stories that appeared in the New Statesman, has had his case dismissed.
Source: The New Statesman [9th Jan 2008]
- C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations - The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program, according to current and former government officials.
Source: New York Times [7th Dec 2007]
- Flight logs reveal secret rendition - The secret flight plans of American military planes have revealed for the first time how European countries helped send prisoners, including British citizens, to the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
Source: The Times [28th Nov 2007]
Links to third-party websites
- Rendition: Blair in quotes - What did the government know about the US using British airports to transport terror suspects? Here is what was said by Tony Blair, in his own words.
Source: BBC News
- House of Commons Minutes of Evidence taken before Foreign Affairs Committee - Jack Straw to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee: "Reductio ad absurdum... blah blah blah... as the US hasn't told us they are using this country for rendition, we don't know anything about it and we won't investigate these allegations... if anyone claims to have been renditioned they can take it up with the proper authority..."
Source: HMSO
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