Diego Garcia used for rendition

Press statement from Reprieve

Legal action charity Reprieve, which provides frontline investigation and legal representation to prisoners held without trial in the name of the"war on terror", calls on the British government to hold a fully transparent and independent inquiry into Diego Garcia's emerging role in the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme.

In total contradiction to five years of government public statements about renditions through the British island of Diego Garcia, Foreign Minister David Miliband confirmed today that at least two US ghost prisoners have been rendered through it.

Reprieve has been investigating British and European complicity in the CIA's extraordinary renditions programme for over two years, and notes that this is far from the first time that Diego Garcia has been implicated in the CIA's renditions programme.

Clive Stafford Smith, Director of Reprieve, stated:

"Since January 2003, the British government has stated again and again that Diego Garcia was never used by the CIA for its torture flights. That simply wasn't true. We now know for sure that British territory has been used to support the CIA’s illegal, repugnant system of kidnap and torture.

"In October 2007, Reprieve released flight logs showing a CIA plane flying in and out of the island. The UK denied it. A US General has twice said Diego Garcia was used as a secret prison, and the Council of Europe confirmed it. The UK denied it. Today, we learn the truth: UK territory was used in the CIA’s torture programme."

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. Reprieve released Enforced Disappearance, Illegal Interstate Transfer, and Other Human Rights Abuses Involving the UK Overseas Territory of Diego Garcia on 18 October 2007. The report included flights logs from September 2002 showing a plane known to have conducted renditions, tail number N379P, landing on Diego Garcia from Athens, and then flying to Morocco.
2. On 5 December 2006, United States General Barry McCaffrey stated about suspected terrorists: "They're behind bars, they're dead, they're apprehended. We've got them on Diego Garcia, in Bagram Airfield, in Guantanamo." (National Public Radio: Army General on Gates, Troops,"All Things Considered", 5 December 2006)
3. In May 2004, General McCaffrey stated prisoners were being held in "[y]ou know, Bagram Air Field, Diego Garcia, Guantanamo, 16 camps throughout Iraq." (7 May 2004 MSNBC Deborah Norville Tonight for May 6)
4. Under the UK's agreement with the United States regarding Diego Garcia, the United States must seek permission from the UK before conducting any operations involving Diego Garcia.
5. Reprieve is a charity providing front-line investigation and legal representation to prisoners denied justice by powerful governments across the world, from Guantánamo Bay to Death Row.