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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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December 11th,
2007 - Irish Human Rights Body Wants CIA Flight Inspections |
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Irish Human
Rights Body Wants CIA Flight Inspections By Agence France Presse December 11, 2007 London - Ireland's top
rights body Tuesday accused the government of failing to do enough to ensure
that flights used for CIA "extraordinary renditions" are not
passing through Irish airports. The Irish Human Rights
Commission renewed a call for an effective inspection and monitoring regime
to be put in place. Under the rendition
programme, terror suspects are transported to secret prisons in countries
with less stringent interrogation rules. However, Irish Foreign
Minister Dermot Ahern denied that the government was lagging in its duty to
ensure that prisoners transferred by US authorities through Ireland would not
be tortured or mistreated in other countries. An IHRC review of Ireland's
human rights obligations on the practice of "extraordinary rendition"
concluded that diplomatic assurances received from Washington "are not
sufficient". "An effective
inspection regime will ensure that no prisoners are transited through the
State en route to a situation of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment," the Commission said. "'Extraordinary
rendition' is an illegal practice which results in torture, and to meet its
human rights obligations, the Irish Government must put in place an effective
inspection regime to ensure that no foreign aircraft suspected of involvement
in the practice land or refuel in Ireland," said Des Hogan, director of
enquiry and legal services of the IHRC. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern
and Dermot Ahern have repeatedly said they have personally received
assurances from US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice that rendition flights have not passed through Irish
territory. In response to the
Commission review, Dermot Ahern said the US assurances had been
"uniquely clear and categoric". Ahern said the IHRC
"would also appear to give more credence to a self-appointed 'activist
group' than to the categoric and unqualified assurances of the democratically
elected government of the US." The Irish government was
confident that under international law it is fully entitled to rely on the
"categoric and absolute assurances" secured from the US government
at the highest level that they have not engaged in extraordinary rendition
through Ireland. He said no other European country
has an inspection regime as proposed in the IHRC report. "The Commission are
asking Ireland to do something that no other state is doing," Ahern
said. "It is very important
to recall that at no stage has any evidence ever emerged, or even a specific
allegation made, that any person has ever been subject to extraordinary
rendition through Ireland," Ahern said. Shannon in southwest Ireland
is the first airport across the North Atlantic from the United States and
serves as an important re-fuelling stop for US military planes. Copyright © 2008 AFP. All
rights reserved. External link: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h9OO2enrl1cCYc4fT5z2K9nfoeXg |