|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
|
July 26th,
2009 - Secrets of CIA ‘Ghost Flights’ to Be Revealed News article from the Guardian |
|
Secrets of CIA
‘Ghost Flights’ to Be Revealed Guantánamo detainee’s lawyers hail UK air firm’s U-turn that allows
rendition case to go to court By Jamie Doward The Guardian July 26, 2009 Confidential documents
showing the flight plans of a CIA "ghost plane" allegedly used to
transfer a British resident to secret interrogation sites around the world
are to be made public. The move comes after a Sussex-based company accused of
involvement in extraordinary rendition dropped its opposition to a case
against it being heard in court. Lawyers bringing the case
against Jeppesen UK on behalf of the former Guantánamo Bay detainee, Binyam
Mohamed, claimed last night the climbdown had wide-ranging legal implications
that could help expose which countries and governments knew the CIA was using
their air bases to spirit terrorist suspects around the world. Jeppesen UK, a division of
the Jeppesen Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing, is alleged to
have provided a range of services that allowed planes owned by shell
companies operating on behalf of the CIA to fly suspected terrorists to
"black sites" . Jeppesen is alleged to have
provided flight planning services, secured permits for travel, arranged fuel
provision and filed flight plans for the clients in the knowledge that the
planes were being used for extraordinary rendition. "Jeppesen's
embarrassing U-turn vindicates our fight to expose corporate collusion in
torture," said Clive Stafford Smith, director of the legal charity
Reprieve, which has led the campaign on behalf of Mohamed. "Binyam
Mohamed, and perhaps many others, are one step nearer to making the directors
of companies stop and think before they commit criminal acts for profit." According to an affidavit
signed by a former employee, Jeppesen's managing director, Bob Overby, told
his staff that "we do all the extraordinary rendition flights".
Sean Belcher, a former technical writer for the company, said Overby claimed
that the CIA "spared no expense" when it came to paying for
Jeppesen's services. Jeppesen contends there is
"no basis" to the claims against it. But after Mohamed's London
lawyers, Leigh Day & Co, presented a large volume of evidence - running
to 419 pages - which they claim proves the company's involvement in the rendition
process, the British arm of the firm withdrew its attempt to have the case
struck out. In a letter to Mohamed's
lawyers, Jeppesen's legal representatives, Allen & Overy, state:
"Our client ... has undertaken an extensive review of information in
order to address and rebut your client's evidence. During the course of this
exercise it has become apparent that due to the scope and diffuse nature of
the evidence ... there is a real risk that the hearing of our client's
application will descend into a 'mini-trial' ... In these circumstances, we
consider that the most appropriate and proportionate course is for our client
to withdraw its application and for the claim to proceed to trial in the
normal way." A separate case is being
pursued against Jeppesen in the US by the American Civil Liberties Union and
Reprieve. The US government is seeking to have the case against Jeppesen
dismissed, saying it would breach national security. But Jeppesen UK's
decision to drop its opposition to fighting the case in a British court means
a wealth of confidential information relating to the alleged rendition
process will become public. "We want to know
whether Jeppesen UK participated in Binyam's rendition which led to his
torture," said his barrister, Daniel Leader. "It is right they
should now disclose all the relevant evidence so we can get to the
truth." Mohamed, an Ethiopian who
lived in Britain, was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan and handed to the US. He
alleges that before his transfer to Guantánamo Bay he was held in prisons in
Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan, beyond the reach of law. While in Morocco,
he alleges that interrogators tortured him by using blades to cut his penis
and chest. Reprieve's renditions
investigator, Clara Gutteridge, said the CIA could not have acted alone and
the case would raise questions over which governments were complicit in
extraordinary rendition. Jeppesen did not return
calls. External link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/cia-rendition-guantanamo |