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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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June 24th,
2008 - European Role in Secret US Flights Criticised |
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European Role
in Secret US Flights Criticised By Stephen Fidler Financial Times June 24, 2008 European governments have
failed to live up to their responsibilities under international law for the
parts they played in covert US rendition and secret detention programmes,
Amnesty International says in a report released on Tuesday. The report says European
nations are culpable for breaches of international law even if they merely
turned a blind eye to US actions. The report says much about
the programmes, including which states were implicated and their level of
involvement, remains unknown. But it said European states helped the US in
several ways. The assistance included
European officials helping with arbitrary detentions that led to renditions;
the hosting of so-called “black sites” or secret detention centres on
European soil; allowing US Central Intelligence Agency aeroplanes to carry
detainees through European airports; and interrogation by European agents or
the sending of questions to places where detainees faced a risk of torture. The report describes cases
involving Sweden, Germany, Italy, Macedonia and Bosnia. It also raises
questions about the UK’s role in the detention and later transfer of Martin
Mubanga, a British national, and Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna, two UK
residents. It also focuses on the case
of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian national and UK resident. Mr Mohamed was
rendered in 2002, allegedly tortured in Morocco, and has been detained for
almost four years at Guantánamo Bay. All four men were handed
over to the US in third countries – neither the US nor the UK – and then
taken to Guantánamo. The report urges all
European governments to adopt six measures on renditions – condemning the
practice, launching independent investigations, ensuring oversight of
intelligence agencies, refusing to assist in future transfers, bringing
perpetrators to justice and providing reparation for past victims. Amnesty said it wrote on
Monday to David Miliband, UK foreign secretary, to seek his urgent
intervention. It called on Mr Miliband to press for Mr Mohamed’s immediate
transfer from the harsh environment of Guantánamo’s Camp 5 to a less
oppressive part of the detention centre. The report also recommends
that European countries ask any aircraft seeking permission to fly over or
land in their territory to indicate whether it is carrying any passengers who
are deprived of their liberty, and give their status and the legal basis for
their transfer. The report says renditions
“have typically involved multiple human rights violations, including unlawful
and arbitrary detention; torture or other ill treatment; and enforced
disappearance”. External link: http://tinyurl.com/5kkuzd |