Scotland Complicit in rendition

Keep torture flights out of Scotland

23 August 2007 Lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said that Scottish airports have been a key staging point in the renditions circuit, and that six named individuals were transported to torture with the help of Scottish territory. Reprieve is calling for an "immediate and thorough criminal investigation" by the Scottish Police as well as an investigation by the Scottish Parliament.

Scotland complicit in rendition

New call for police action over rendition

19 August 2006 SACC has written today to Strathclyde Police urging them to investigate an incident in October 2001 when a Gulfstream private jet linked to the CIA is believed to have stopped to refuel at Prestwick after taking a rendition victim from Pakistan to Jordan. The fate of the man - Yemeni citizen Jamil Qasim Saeed Muhammad - is unknown. His case is documented in an Amnesty International report on human rights abuses in Jordan, published in July this year.

The latest call for action from SACC follows a police statement in July that there was insufficient evidence for them to act. We hope that the new information we have brought to their attention - which in fact has been public knowledge for some months - will be sufficiently specific to trigger a serious investigation.
Read SACC's new letter to Strathclyde police.

Saturday 24 June 2006 - Day of Protest

Protests against rendition were held at airports around the UK
Prestwick protest -Report and pictures from Indymedia
Birmingham protest - Report and pictures

A Global Spider's Web of Abuse

'Extraordinary rendition' is the term generally used for the practice of kidnapping "terror suspects" and flying them to countries where torture of prisoners occurs. The practice is illegal and the term has no meaning in international law. Reports have revealed that a large number of flights into or out of Scotland have been logged by aircraft owned or run by the CIA. In many cases these flights link places thought to be involved in extra-judicial detention and interrogation. The airfields involved include Glasgow, Prestwick, Edinburgh, Leuchars, Wick and Inverness. A report published on 7 June by Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty documents a "global spiders web" of illegal activity.
Read Dick Marty's report

It's clear that the flights contravene international law but the government denies British involvement and refuse to intervene to stop the flights. In the past Vice President Cheney has defended torture as legitimate.

The outcry over rendition is forcing the US government to backtrack. Last December Condoleza Rice issued a statement that US personnel were bound by the UN convention against torture whether they were based at home or abroad.

Amnesty report shows shows British involvement in rendition

New report from Amnesty International (14 June) Partners in crime: Europe�s role in US renditions The report focuses on six cases of rendition involving 13 victims. Amnesty International says: The cases leave no doubt that the seven highlighted states � Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Sweden, Turkey and the UK � have failed in their duty to respect and protect human rights. These and other states must be held to account for the part they played in the renditions. All governments should use national and international law to prosecute anyone who has been directly or indirectly responsible for torture or other forms of ill-treatment...Torture does not stop terror. Torture is terror - statement from Amnesty International, June 2005 Read the full statement

No torture, no compromise

The UK Human Rights group Liberty says:
Liberty believes that by involving ourselves torture � even if we are not actually torturing people ourselves � we make a mockery of our status as a civilised country and we lose any ability to press other countries to halt this practice.
Liberty's "No Torture - No Compromise" campaign

More information

• Statewatch Observatory on rendition -Documents submitted to European Parliament, Council of Europe etc. Copious information, frequent updates
• 7 September 2006 Scottish involvement in rendition - 23 August 2007
• 7 September 2006 US confirms secret prison network
• 24 July 2006 Head of MI5 snubs parliamentarians Correspondence between the head of MI5 and the Chair of Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), dated January 2006 and published by JCHR July 2006.
• 22 June SACC letter to Strathclyde Police
• 19 August 2006 New letter from SACC to Strathclyde police asking them to investigate a specific flight linked to a documented case of rendition.
• 28 July 2006 Police reply to SACC letter of 22 June
• 22 June SACC letter to Strathclyde Police
• 22 June SACC letter to Lothian and Borders Police
• Partners in crime: Europe�s role in US renditions -Amnesty International report - 14 June 2006
• 7 June 2006 Council of Europe report
• 1 June Testimony of Craig Murray to the European Parliament - British complicity in torture in Uzbekistan
• Research on the plane used by the CIA - by Dick Marty (the Council of Europe's Special Rapporteur). Documents aircraft and flights - Check here for your local airport.
• 12 April 2006 STUC calls for action on rendition flights
• 28 March 2006 Fabricating terrorism - damning report from Cage Prisoners on British involvement in rendition and torture.
• Edinburgh airport vigil, 5 Feb 2006 SACC Press Release
• Guardian report, 2 Feb 2006 US rendition planes did use British airspace
• Reuters report 26 Jan 2006 EU to press leaders to come to CIA probe
• 24 january 2006 Council of Europe draws attention to SNP report
• 24 Jan 2006 - Guardian report Britain 'ordered torture of 9/11 suspect'
• Interim report (22 Jan 2006) of the Council of Europe Investigation
• Guardian article, 2 Feb 2006 US rendition planes did use British airspace
• 20 Jan 2006 Government covered up torture flights
• SNP dossier published 18 Jan 2006 Alleged CIA aircraft flying into Scotland
• SACC Press Release 17 Jan 2006 US Consul would accept police checks on rendition flights
• SACC Press Release 16 Jan 2006 US Consul's gaffe provokes outrage in Scotland
• 11 Dec 2005, Observer report MI6 and CIA 'sent student to Morocco to be tortured'
• Amnesty International Press Release 5 Dec 2005 800 secret CIA flights into and out of Europe

Petition Against Torture Flights

Stop US torture (aka extraordinary rendition) flights using Scottish airports. Download a printable petition; collect signatures in your workplace and your community; from your neighbours; at campaign stalls.

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