U.K.: Territory used for U.S. ‘rendition flights’
02/21/2008
London previously said it played no role in secret transfer of terror suspectsMSNBC News Services
February 21, 2008
LONDON - Two U.S. planes carrying terrorism suspects refueled at a U.S. base on British-ruled Diego Garcia in 2002, Britain said Thursday, contradicting earlier government assurances that British territory had not been used as part of the so-called extraordinary rendition program.
"Contrary to earlier explicit assurances that Diego Garcia had not been used for rendition flights, recent U.S. investigations have now revealed two occasions, both in 2002, when this had in fact occurred," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told parliament.
Diego Garcia is an Indian Ocean island.
While the United States had admitted the practice, the British government had previously insisted it had no evidence to support allegations that Britain had been involved in rendition.
The government had previously said it is aware of two cases in 1998 when it allowed U.S. officials to use British territory to transport suspects to the United States to stand trial.
A government document leaked to a British newspaper in early 2006 said Britain believed the CIA’s secret transfer of terrorism suspects to foreign countries for interrogation was illegal if the detainee were at risk of torture.
A European investigator said last year he had proof Poland and Romania hosted secret prisons for the CIA in which it interrogated top al-Qaida suspects using methods akin to torture.
But British police said at the time they had found no evidence to support claims that CIA planes transporting terrorism suspects to face possible torture in secret prisons in Europe landed illegally at British airports.