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Alleged CIA detentions: PACE President welcomes European Parliament investigation

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Strasbourg, 13.01.2006 – Ren’ van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, today welcomed the proposal that the European Parliament create a temporary committee to investigate the allegations of secret CIA detentions in Europe.

“I am pleased to note the European Parliament’s support for Mr Marty’s activities and their wish to liaise and co-operate as closely as possible with our enquiry,” said Mr van der Linden, adding that Mr Marty shared this view. “Indeed, members of the European Parliament have already twice attended meetings of our Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. In addition, we will be inviting them to participate in the Assembly’s debate later this month. The fact that the European Parliament will be adding its efforts to those of our Assembly underlines the political importance of the enquiry and the necessity for common action.”

“I would like to repeat that it is in everyone’s interest ‘ including that of national governments in Europe and the USA ‘ to co-operate in discovering the truth of this affair, in order to prevent such violations of the international rule of law occurring in future,” continued Mr van der Linden.

The Assembly began its enquiry on 7 November last year, in the immediate aftermath of the original allegations. Since then, its Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has discussed the issue on three occasions. Following these meetings, requests for co-operation have been made to the national parliaments of all 46 Council of Europe member states, the US government (an Observer State of the Council of Europe), Eurocontrol (responsible for European air traffic management) and the EU Satellite Centre, along with Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council of the EU.

The Assembly will be debating the issue on 24 January, during its plenary session in Strasbourg. This work complements the requests made by the Council of Europe’s Secretary General to the governments of member states.

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Straw under fire for refusing CIA flights inquiry

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By Catherine MacLEOD in The Herald

CRITICS gave the government a rocky ride in parliament over its refusal to mount a judicial inquiry into claims that the US has used UK airports to fly terror suspects abroad for torture.

In a written statement, Jack Straw, foreign secretary, disclosed that the UK had refused a US request in 1998 to refuel a flight carrying detainees en route to the US. In December, he had told MPs that another request had been refused, while two others had been approved when Bill Clinton was in the White House. To little avail, he repeated assurances that a trawl of Foreign Office records had found no record of any requests for extradition rendition flights to pass through the UK.

In the Commons, MPs demanded that the government should set out the grounds on which it judges the flight requests, but Kim Howells, foreign office minister, was unmoved.

Nick Clegg, the LibDems’ foreign affairs spokesman, maintained the government had doubts about the US policy, whatever its public protestations. He said: “The ambiguity of the government’s position on this clandestine practice of extraordinary rendition seems to deepen with every answer given. “Clearly (Mr Straw’s answer) indicates that the government, at least behind the scenes, had much graver doubts about this clandestine practice than it has been prepared to give so far. Why were these flights refused?”

Mr Howells dismissed Mr Clegg’s objections as anti-US sentiment. He argued that the LibDems were employing typical tactics to throw mud at the Bush administration in the hope some of it might stick. He said: “This government is opposed to torture, it does not torture anyone, nor would we ever put up with any other administration torturing individuals. We will watch this very carefully as we always have done.”

William Hague, shadow foreign secretary, sought assurance that the rendition through the UK leading to torture in a third country had not taken place, and Mr Howell was adamant that the government would never co-operate in any operation involving torture.

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Rendition Flights: Ministers will not be able to avoid the scandal for ever

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The Guardian looks forward to future Parliamentary action to hold ministers to account on rendition flights and comments on the current state of inactivity.

“In Britain, there is nothing, despite an absolute duty imposed on the government by its domestic and international legal obligations to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment. Ministers appear to have something to hide and the issue will not go away.”

By Richard Norton-Taylor in The Guardian

As they contemplate the future leadership of their respective parties, MPs returning to Westminster from their holidays insist there is another issue that they will not be distracted from. That is the government’s attitude, still to be satisfactorily explained, towards America’s practice of “extraordinary rendition” – flying Islamist suspects to secret camps where they are likely to be subjected to torture.

An all-party parliamentary group set up to probe the issue is preparing a number of moves this month to get to the truth. The group is chaired by Andrew Tyrie, Conservative MP for Chichester, who has two deputies – Chris Mullin, the former Labour Foreign Office minister, and Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman and candidate for his party’s leadership. They are determined to get answers to questions that ministers and officials have been so reluctant to provide. The Council of Europe is also on the warpath.

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Council of Europe backs calls for Shannon flights probe

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From Ireland Online

Europe’s leading human rights body has backed calls for the Irish Government to mount a formal investigation of US military landings at Shannon Airport.

The call comes amid on-going controversy over the US “extraordinary rendition” programme that sees the CIA transporting suspected Islamic militants to secret interrogation centres around the world.

Several people detained under the programme have turned out to be innocent after allegedly being tortured for months in countries like Saudi Arabia and Syria.

Critics claim the CIA is effectively “outsourcing” torture because the practice is banned under US law.

Irish peace activists say planes involved in the programme have landed at Shannon on numerous occasions, but the Irish Government says it accepts US assurances that no prisoners were on board any of the flights.

The Irish Human Rights Commission has said the Government has a duty to conduct a proper investigation rather than simply accepting such assurances.

The 46-nation Council of Europe, set up to safeguard human rights and democracy on the continent, has now backed this stance, saying the issue should concern all Irish people.

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Whitehall unconfidential: the censors are on the run

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The Guardian writes on how powerless Tony Blair has become to stem a tide of embarrassing disclosures, including the Tashkent Telegrams.

“Another renegade ex-ambassador, Craig Murray – forced out of his job in Uzbekistan for objecting to British/US complicity in torture – is defying the same act with impunity. Over the New Year, he published on his website many classified Foreign Office telegrams and, in a modern touch, has ensured their circulation to more than 4,000 bloggers.”

By David Leigh in The Guardian

A series of important battles is going on between the prime minister’s men and a growing number of more junior officials over who is allowed to censor whom. Censorship attempts always have their funny side. Everyone had quite a laugh last year when Lance Price, the one-time spin doctor, defiantly published his diary entry saying that “we are devising a glasses strategy”. The short-sighted premier’s new specs were to be laid “accidentally” on his desk and a friendly profile-writer allowed to spot them. But Blair wanted Calvin Kleins, while Alastair Campbell thought an NHS pair would play better. Sir Gus O’Donnell, the cabinet secretary, subsequently pronounced of these disclosures: “Making money out of private conversations is wrong” – which, considering the circumstances, was even more amusing.

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Sun Tzu and the Art of Spying

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A White House official’s wisecrack about an ancient Chinese philosopher actually provides critical insights into Bush’s views on spying and executive branch power.

By Noah Leavitt at AlterNet

Last week, White House spokeperson Trent Duffy provided the Bush administration’s rationale for its extralegal program to spy on United States citizens. Duffy quipped: “The fact is that Al Quaida’s play book is not printed on Page 1, and when America’s is, it has serious ramifications. You don’t need to be Sun Tzu to understand that.”

Duffy was referencing the “big idea” of Sun Tzu’s seminal work, “The Art of War,” which could be stated as “the ideal strategy is to win without fighting — to defeat the enemy before combat becomes necessary.”

It was an odd but telling comment, and worth exploring for the critical insights it provides about Bush’s views on spying and executive branch power.

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Liberty – No Torture, No Compromise

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Liberty is one of the UK’s leading human rights and civil liberties organisations. They lobby Parliament, aiming to expose laws that undermine civil liberties and human rights, and work with politicians to correct them. They also challenge laws, by taking test cases to UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights and conduct research on diverse issues.

They have recently launched their No Torture – No Compromise campaign

Liberty

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A Call to US Ambassadors

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The Progressive issues a challange to US Ambassadors in the light of actions taken by Craig Murray.

“Where are the U.S. ambassadors who are willing to risk their necks for opposing torture and war?

When I visited Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt in 2002, I found U.S. diplomats, including ambassadors, bending over backward to justify authoritarian practices in their host countries.

Some of this is understandable, since it is part of the job of U.S. diplomats to maintain good relations with friendly governments. But the eagerness of U.S. diplomats to perform this task was disconcerting.”

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Her Majesty’s Secret Service?

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As official denials grow ever more opaque, evidence which points to Britain’s involvement in torture grows ever more transparent.

By Torcuil Crichton in The Herald

LIKE the nightmare instruments themselves, the screws of proof are being slowly tightened around Britain’s complicity in the international kidnapping, interrogation and torture of terrorist suspects.

A series of allegations and an increasing pattern of reports of British involvement in the trade of ‘extraordinary rendition’ is cornering the government in narrower and narrower denials.

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Repression of Uzbekistan’s Secular Opposition Reaches New Levels

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Nadira Khidoyatova, coordinator of the Sunshine Coalition, which unites one opposition party and several human-rights NGOs working inside Uzbekistan,was detained by Uzbek police on December 20, 2005 at

Tashkent airport. Khidoyatova, 37, was not presented with an arrest warrant, and state prosecutors did not present any charges against her until she had spent her first night in prison.

She has been accused of variety of economic crimes,such as tax evasion, expropriation of property and money laundering. If she is found guilty of these crimes, under Uzbek law she would likely serve a

prison sentence of five to six years.

Khidoyatova has been transferred to a pre-trial detention prison in Tashkent, where she remains at present.

Uzbek opposition and human rights groups consider Khidoyatova to be a political prisoner. Prior to her arrest, she spent two months in Moscow trying to raise awareness in Russian political circles about the increase in repression on the part of the Uzbek regime. Her sister, Nigora Khidoyatova, is leader of the Free Peasants Party, a key part of the Sunshine Coalition.

This is the second time that Nadira Khidoyatova has been arrested for her political activity. In 1995 she was arrested and imprisoned on similar economic charges after she had helped the former Uzbek ambassador to the United States, Babur Malikov, escape the country to go into exile and into opposition. At that time Khidoyatova was four months pregnant; after her arrest a compulsory abortion was performed on her.

Khidoyatova is a mother of daughter aged thirteen and a son aged three.

Her arrest follows the arrest of the leader of the Sunshine Coalition, Sanjar Umarov, on October 23, 2005, also for alleged economic crimes. According to his lawyer, who has been granted access to him only four times since his arrest, Umarov is being tortured and injected with psychotropic drugs against his will.

Another member of the Sunshine Coalition,Arif Aydin,a Turkish citizen and Nigora Khidoyatova’s husband,was expelled from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan in early December. Two weeks after his departure he was shot by unidentified men in southern Kazakhstan, and he died in the hospital two days later.

The attacks on the leaders of the Sunshine Coalition are just part of the Uzbek government’s recent campaign of repression against opposition parties, NGOs and independent media outlets. Facing official pressure, BBC shut down its office in Tashkent this summer, and in December, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was closed down by authorities. Activities of other NGOs including the Soros Foundation and Internews have been suspended as well.

Please write to us to find out more about Khidoyatova’s case. We would appreciate you help in publicising this case.

Sincerely,

“May 13 campaign for Justice and Democracy in Uzbekistan”

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Asil Nadir, MI6, and the flight to Cyprus

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Asil Nadir - click to find out more

An interesting Point:

I was head of the Cyprus Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office when Asil Nadir of Polly Peck fled the UK while on bail (an old scandal you could google).

Nadir was in a hotel in North Cyprus, and I was discussing with MI6 a plan to kidnap him and bring him in to one of the UK sovereign base areas on the island.

The plan was blocked because, in a case recent at that time, the House of Lords had ruled that anyone taken unlawfully and brought into our jurisdiction could not be held and tried.

It ran through my mind again when considering the Athens case. The joy of extraordinary rendition is, of course, that you are not bringing them in to this country, where they would have the protection of the courts, but you’re kidnapping them and taking them to places where they can be abused and tortured.

Returning back down memory lane to the Nadir case, I am convinced there was complicity by the authorities in his escape. The police surveillance unit was stood down for the bank holiday weekend to avoid the expense of paying them overtime (I am not making this up). He plainly knew this was going to happen, because within minutes he was in a fast car (driven by a professional racing driver) who drove him to an airfield where a private plane was waiting with engines running.

There were many in the then political establishment who had taken Nadir’s shilling and didn’t want him in the witness box. That is why I was looking at extreme measures to get him back.

But you will have to wait until I have finished my second book, and it’s been banned, before you learn more of that…

Craig

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Anger at refusal to reveal legal advice on possible torture flights

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By Tom Gordon in the Sunday Herald

Ministers were under attack last night for refusing to reveal secret legal advice on so-called American torture flights passing through Scottish airports.

The Scottish Executive said it was not in the public interest to disclose advice on extraordinary rendition, the process which critics believe involves the CIA flying terror suspects to be tortured in countries such as Morocco, Egypt and Uzbekistan. CIA-operated aircraft have made dozens of refuelling stops at Glasgow and Prestwick airports in recent years, although the executive has insisted there is no evidence of a torture connection.

In response to a freedom of information request lodged by the Sunday Herald, The Herald’s sister paper, the executive’s justice department refused to hand over material on rendition in case it prejudiced the workings of government. It said: “In our view, it would not be in the public interest to disclose legal advice.

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Jack Straw Caught Lying Again? – British admit being at terror grilling

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From The Observer

British officials have admitted MI6 officers were present during the interrogation of 28 Pakistanis in Greece, despite apparent denials by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. They insist, however, that the officers took no active part in the men’s arrest, questioning or abuse that was later alleged.

As the story of the interrogation of the Pakistanis, picked up in Greece following the 7 July London bombings, has turned into a political scandal in Athens, officials in the UK have retreated from Straw’s insistence that the allegations of British involvement were ‘fabricated’ and ‘utter nonsense’.

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New Year’s Greetings

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We would like to thank the very large number of people who have directly contacted Craig or the weblog to give their support to the work we are involved in and, in particular, the decision to release the Tashkent letters.

Inevitably, there was going to be range of rather less positive reactions and we thought it might be interesting to share a sample of some of these minority minds with you. A range of views follow, from the reasoned to the raving. Enjoy!

Go hang yourself traitor!!! Stop trying to bilk morons out of money! You should be ashamed of yourself for turning on your country. Remember WW2 and the peril your country was in from the Nazi’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[email protected]

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I really don’t know where to start. The Nazis were also quite fond of torture, and banning books, and stuff like that, which is why we opposed them.

And, if you want to discuss history, for a very considerable period, -over two years in fact – the Nazis killed massive numbers of Poles, and French, and Dutch, and Czechs, and myriad others, while the US just stood by and watched. There were 100 times more British casualties from the Nazi blitz than from 9/11, and America did nothing. Only when the USA was itself attacked did the USA respond – and then, it must be said, did a great job with much sacrifice.

Nine of my uncles served in the second world war. Four of them still live and are horrified by what Blair and Bush have brought us to. So don’t throw your simplistic stupidities at me.

Craig

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Craig, I’m 71 years old and a retired US Army CW4. I would love to meet you anywhere you like so I can pound you into the ground, then rip off your fucking head with my bare hands and bowl it down the street. When the ragheads take over, assholes like you are the first ones they’ll execute.

Fuck you,

L. A. St.Onge, Los Lunas, NM USA

[email protected]

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Er… no comment

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you protect your country by any means necessary. Just as one protects his home using any and all options available so should the government do the same in protecting it’s citizens and it’s shores.

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Dear friend,

Thousands of people are tortured in Uzbekistan every year. 99% of them are completely innocent, as in they have no connection with terrorism whatsoever.

Presumably you wouldn’t object, then, if they did become terrorists, as they must have the right to protect themselves and their families by any means too? Let me put that another way – if someone boiled your brother to death, what would you do?

Try to think wider.

Craig

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“Three Christian schoolgirls were beheaded by masked assailants in Poso district in October.”

“Twenty people were killed in May this year when two bombs exploded in the largely Christian town of Tentena.”

We are involved in a very nasty war. If torture includes taking clothes of people or putting hoods on them then so what.

There is also much more to the problems in Uzbekistan than your blog admits.

Regards, MCF

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Michael

I don’t know who you are, but I would be surprised if you are better informed on Uzbekistan than I am.

I think you know that I am not talking about just putting hoods on people or taking off thier clothes. And why you think that appalling terrorist atrocities in Indonesia justify the torture of thousands of people in Uzbekistan – 99% of whom have no connection with terrorism -I don’t understand.

Craig

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Mr. Murray,

I can only hope that one of these Islamic terrorists slowly hacks YOUR head off someday, or maybe blows up one of your children or brutally rapes your mother, sister, wife, daughter. You bleedingheart liberals disgust me in every way, you are the first ones to scream torture and human rights violations yet if a terrorist plot is successful you immediately BLAME your government for NOT protecting YOU!! It is YOU, sir, that is torturing the rest of us who actually have the capacity to think and understand exactly what these people would do to morons like you given the opportunity. Here is my contribution, ROT IN HELL!!

[email protected]

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Pat,

Of the many thousands of people tortured every year in Uzbekistan, the large majority – at least 99% – are not terrorists. You are displaying a lot of hate in your tone. I do hope you find peace.

Craig

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Mr. Murray,

I can appreciate your stance on torture. But there are other points of view. It is a nice moral platitude to espouse; but, when it comes to the lives of your citizens in the UK vs. the life of single al-Queda operative… I will opt to extract information by any means to save the lives of those who are in danger.

We are dealing with an instumentality that has been growing under our feet for decades. We are dealing with a way of thought that is contrary to Western political and moral values. If we fail to take necessary measures to eliminate that threat and thousands of our people die due to our moral and political stance on extracting information from an individual who posseses information that is vital to the welfare of our societies, then I opt to sacrifice that individual for the greater good if necessary.

I am an American Veteran of the Viet-nam conflict who served with US Air Force. It was our moral and political stance that cost us 58,000+ American lives. Our government was full of people who did not allow our military forces to prosecute that war to conclusion. We cannot allow this attitude to prevail again. Your own Chamberlain was promoting Peace while Hitler was preparing to destroy your country. If you think the Nazis were bad, wait until you commit to engage yourselves to protect your way of life. Frankly, I do not want to see Islam become the dominant force anywhere in this world. And that is what we are engaged in fighting. Islam fundamentalism.

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Thank you. I am familiar with your argument. If you had an al-Qaida operaitve in front of you, who had planned a bomb about to go off, would you hit him until he told you it was about to go off. Of course you would – I would, anyway.

But real life isn’t that clear cut. What we are talking about is completely different. In Uzbekistan thousands of people are tortured every year, and at least 99% of them are nothing to do with terrorism, as in completely innocent. And a fair number of those die under torture. Most of them are just religous Muslims.

The US no longer supports the Uzbek regime. But for the period it did, I can assure you that these facts fuelled hatred of the US (and UK) across the Muslim world. It thus creates, rather than combats, terrorism.

Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Craig

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CRAIG

MOST EVERYONE IS AWARE ISLAMIC TERRORISM HAS DECLARED WAR ON THE FREE WORLD WITH A GOAL OF RULING THE WORLD UNDER ISLAM. WE HAVE SEEN ISLAM DEMONSTRATE ITS CONTROL IN AFGHANASTAN WITH THE SHOOTING OF WOMEN IN THE HEAD AS A SHOW FOR THE STADIUM CROWD AS ONE EXAMPLE, ON ARAB TV WE HAVE SEEN BEHEADINGS OF HUMAN BEINGS FOR THE WORLD TO SEE AS ONE MORE EXAMPLE. ON YOUR WEB SITE I HAVE SEEN YOUR BREACH OF NATIONAL SECURITY PROMOTING THE CAUSE OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM FOR THE WORLD TO SEE EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW THEIR INHUMANE UNCIVILIZED RECORD. I FIND MYSELF WONDERING WHAT SORT OF TWISTED PERSONALITY WOULD BETRAY HIS OWN PRECIOUS COUNTRYMEN TO FAVOR A VICIOUS BLOODTHIRSTY ENEMY AS I SEE ON YOUR WEB. ALSO YOUR OVERALL WEB SITE IS NOTHING BUT A NEST OF PRO-TERRORISM MALE BOVINE DEFFICATION. I WISH YOU A GREAT NEW YEAR AS A STAR ON ARAB TV WITH THE SEVERING OF YOUR HEAD BY THOSE WHOM YOU HAVE AIDED IN THEIR WAR AGAINST FREEDOM AND HUMANITY. HOWEVER I SHALL GET A COPY OF YOUR BOOK AT THE LOCAL FLEA MARKET REJECT BASKET, IT WOULD BE MOST USEFUL WERE I TO RUN OUT OF TOILET TISSUE.

BOB

[email protected]

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BBC Radio – Craig Murray and the Letters from Tashkent

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In an interview with BBC radio’s PM programme Craig talks about his decision to release key confidential documents on the internet and the implications for the UK government.

Click here to listen to the interview via Andy Ramblings

Mainstream and blog news coverage of the story as it develops is being logged here and here

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Server Down and Back

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As you may have noticed, the site went down yesterday in rather suspicious circumstances and it appears that overload was not the issue. Although we are definetely back in business there are a few residual glitches (:-)) in the archives and formatting that we will be working to put right over the next few days. Please bear with us and keep visiting.

These are interesting days indeed.

Happy new year!

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Extraordinary Rendition – the cover-up continues

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Questions from Ming Campbell to Goverment Minister Adam Ingram in the House of Commons on 14th December

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) on how many occasions since September 2001 US-registered aircraft tail number (a) N313P and (b) N44982, formerly N8068V and N379P, has landed at United Kingdom military airfields with (i) Kabul and (ii) Baghdad as its (A) origin and (B) destination; [35460]

(2) on how many occasions since September 2001 US-registered aircraft tail number (a) N313P and (b) N44982, formerly N8068V and N379P, has landed at United Kingdom military airfields with an airport in (i) Jordan, (ii) Syria, (iii) Romania and (iv) Poland as its (A) origin and (B) destination; [35444]

(3) on how many occasions since September 2001 US-registered aircraft tail number (a) N313P and (b) N44982, formerly N8068V and N379P, has landed at United Kingdom military airfields with an airport in (i) Libya, (ii) Uzbekistan, (iii) Morocco and (iv) Egypt as its (A) origin and (B) destination. [35443]

Mr. Ingram: The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

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British Police Begin Inquiry Into Alleged CIA Torture Flights

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By Richard Norton-Taylor in The Guardian

A chief constable has begun inquiries into allegations that CIA “torture flights” have landed in Britain, the human rights group, Liberty, said yesterday. It said Michael Todd, chief constable of Greater Manchester police, had agreed to start investigations on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). Mr Todd is the member of Acpo’s terrorism committee responsible for aviation.

After meeting with Mr Todd, the director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said: “We are very pleased that the police are taking these concerns seriously. If suspects are being taken through the UK to face torture, there have been serious breaches of international and domestic law. We intend to help the police and call on individuals with any information to come forward.” Acpo described the meeting as “useful” and said further talks were planned in January.

A Greater Manchester police spokesman said it had been a “useful exploratory discussion”.

Liberty acted after the Guardian reported that CIA or CIA-chartered jets had flown into the UK approximately 210 times since 2001. It wrote to the chief constables of Bedfordshire, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, the Metropolitan police, the Ministry of Defence police, Suffolk, Sussex, Thames Valley and West Midlands last month asking them to seek assurances from the US that it is not using British airports to transport – or “render” – terrorist suspects to secret camps or countries known to have tortured prisoners.

Liberty said the police had asked for further evidence, and has asked anyone with information about CIA flights using British airspace or airports to contact the organisation, even anonymously.

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