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Another blow to the UK government’s ban on free speech – Catholics commemorate the dead inside the exclusion zone. No arrests made.

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From the BBC

Iraq protest in ‘demo ban zone’

More demonstrators have gathered in an “exclusion zone” to test the limits of a law banning protests without the police authorisation.

Catholic peace group Pax Christi read out names of children killed in the Iraq conflict at Downing Street.

Members said prayers at the event, which did not have police permission, but officers chose not to intervene.

Maya Evans, who read out names at the Cenotaph of soldiers killed in Iraq, has been convicted under the new law.

The 25-year-old was found guilty of breaching Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, which covers a half-mile area around Parliament, and given a conditional discharge.

Since her conviction, others have been testing the new law – originally designed to evict peace protester Brian Haw, whose anti-war vigil has been a fixture in Parliament Square for four years.

He remains in the square, having successfully fought his case in the High Court.

On 21 December, about 100 carol singers gathered in Parliament Square, but no-one was arrested.

Pax Christi’s British chairman Stuart Hemsley told the BBC News website he read out the names of 29 British soldiers with children, who had been killed in Iraq.

The group also picked out the names of 50 Iraqi children aged five and under.

“We had no problems from the police whatsoever, they just stood there looking stony-faced. It was as if we weren’t there.

“I am not disappointed I have not been arrested but I wonder if this will now set a precedent.”

He said the group of 15 wanted to pray and worship at the seat of power in the hope they would continue to raise awareness of the situation in Iraq.

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Alleged MI6 torturer back in Britain – but will he face justice?

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From the Telegraph

An alleged MI6 station chief in Athens has been recalled to Britain “for his own safety” after being identified by a Greek newspaper.

It reported that he had taken part in the abduction and brutal interrogation of Pakistanis.

As the Government placed a gag order to stop British media from naming the alleged spy, who is officially accredited as a diplomat, a well-placed Greek security source said his recall was “not done as punishment or as retribution of any kind for the unfavourable turn of events”.

He added: “It is more of a standard precautionary measure because his intelligence role can no longer be effective in Greece.”

The Foreign Office declined to comment yesterday. It merely noted that Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, had previously dismissed as “utter nonsense” claims by the Pakistani workers to have been beaten by British and Greek counter-terrorism officers last July as they investigated links to the London bombings.

One claimed he had a gun put in his mouth as he was questioned about telephone calls to London and Pakistan.

Proto Thema, a Greek magazine, said the MI6 station chief had taken part in the interrogations with a second MI6 officer who was not named.

It also unmasked 15 Greek intelligence officials in revelations denounced by Athens as illegal “because they endanger national security”.

Greek authorities said they had had to recall two of their intelligence agents from Kosovo.

The alleged spy has previously been identified as an MI6 officer on the internet and in allegations made by Richard Tomlinson, a renegade MI6 officer.

Seven of the 28 detainees, who say they were held for several days then set free without charge, have lodged official complaints in Athens.

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Europe-wide arrest warrants issued for CIA agents suspected of kidnapping and complicity in torture

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From Reuters

MILAN (Reuters) – A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy’s financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday.

Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

Prosecutors asked the Italian Justice Ministry last month to seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States, but Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has not yet decided whether to act on the request.

A European Union warrant is automatically valid across the 25-nation bloc and does not require approval of any government.

The warrant was agreed by the European Union in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and was hailed as a key part of the bloc’s fight against terrorism.

Spataro told Reuters he had also asked Interpol to try to detain the suspects anywhere in the world.

Earlier this week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he did not believe CIA agents had kidnapped Nasr, but added that governments were not going to defeat terrorism by playing by the rules.

Justice officials believe Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, is still in custody in Egypt. Italian investigators have accused him of ties to al Qaeda and recruiting combatants for Iraq, and a Milan judge has issued a warrant for his arrest.

There has been a series of investigations into whether U.S. intelligence officials used Europe as a hub to illegally transfer militant suspects to third countries for interrogation.

The U.S. embassy in Rome was not immediately available for comment.

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Will Tony Blair arrest us for singing songs of peace and goodwill in Parliament Square at 6pm this evening? Christmas Carol concert will test the limits of government free speech ban.

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BBC News

Carol singers are to become the latest group to defy a ban on unauthorised protests around Parliament.

The group will test the limits of the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act by singing in Parliament Square from 1800 GMT on Wednesday.

The law makes demonstrating without police permission an arrestable offence near Parliament.

Singers include long-term anti-war protester Brian Haw and Maya Evans – the first protester to be convicted.

Ironically Mr Haw is the one protester exempt from the ban, due to a Home Office drafting error.

He successfully argued in the High Court that as his four-year vigil pre-dated the law, he did not have to apply for authorisation to continue.

Since the law came into force in August, several people have been arrested and other protesters have been warned off.

Peace campaigner Ms Evans was the first to be convicted under the Act, after reading out the names of soldiers killed in Iraq at the Cenotaph.

Mr Haw will lead the Lord’s Prayer at the service on Wednesday, joined by others including former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, and a 7 July bombings survivor.

A spokesman for the carol singers, Tim Ireland, said: “In this instance, the police have not been notified. They’ve been invited, certainly, but they have not been notified.

“We believe that the public has the right to gather in a public place and sing Christmas carols. The police may see things differently, we shall see.”

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman was not able to comment on whether a carol service constituted a demonstration and said a decision about whether to take action would be taken on the day.

Hundreds of people will today risk arrest and prosecution by singing Christmas Carols in Parliament Square.

The service will be supported by Maya Anne Evans, recently prosecuted for reading out the names of dead British soldiers near the Cenotaph, together with the former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, who was forced out of his job for criticising the use of torture, and Rachel North, a survivor of the July 7th bombings.

Writing on her blog, Rachel North says:

“I have been more or less unable to deal with Christmas this year… All the sentiments of peace on earth, hope, joy, when it felt like we were reaching the end of a year of horrible bloodshed and hate and death and war, led by men who claim to be godly, but know so little of compassion, of peace… That both fighting sides say they do it for ‘God’ and ‘freedom’ and ‘justice’ as they murder and main is more than I can stand…

I urge you to join us if you can make it, in Parliament Square on Wednesday this week at 6pm. It’s important to protect these traditions, beloved of us all in this country for a thousand years. Now more than ever.”

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Foreign office staff threatened resignations in bid to stop US bombing of Al Jazeera. Jack Straw lies over CIA flights.

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From Ringverse

The British Foreign Office privately accepts that CIA rendition flights did pass through its territory, a diplomatic source told United Press International.

The well-placed source said the Foreign Office “totally accepts” that the United States used British airfields to transfer prisoners abroad for interrogation, and is “extremely worried” about the political consequences.

The revelation comes amid growing signs of divergence between London and Washington over the way in which the war on terror should be conducted.

When British Prime Minister Tony Blair learnt in April 2003 that the United States had bombed a Baghdad hotel in which several media organizations were housed, killing three journalists, he “literally jumped out of his chair,” the source told UPI. The Foreign Office was “horrified,” considering the attack to be “obscene,” the source said.

London took the same attitude towards a U.S. suggestion that it would attack the Qatar headquarters of the Arabic language television al-Jazeera, the source said.

Foreign Office officials threatened to resign if the Americans went ahead with the attacks, revealed in a Downing Street memo leaked to the British media earlier this year.

Blair reportedly talked U.S. President George W. Bush out of the attacks, warning it could fuel a worldwide backlash. The Mirror newspaper quoted a source as saying: “There’s no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn’t want him to do it.”

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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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Condi’s iffy rendition of ‘Evita’

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By Tom Blackburn in the Palm Beach Post

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did her impression of Evita Peron’s Rainbow Tour through Europe two weeks ago. Did the lady win through? As the song says, “The answer is yes… and no.”

She did shift the subject briefly from torture to “extraordinary rendition.” But her audience didn’t believe her about that, either. At the end, European foreign ministers made noises as if they believed her, but they have to live with the big galoot she represents, believe her or not.

(more…)

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America kidnapped me

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From the Los Angeles Times

By Khaled El-Masri, KHALED EL-MASRI, a German citizen born in Lebanon, was a car salesman before he was detained in December 2003.

THE U.S. POLICY of “extraordinary rendition” has a human face, and it is mine.

I am still recovering from an experience that was completely beyond the pale, outside the bounds of any legal framework and unacceptable in any civilized society. Because I believe in the American system of justice, I sued George Tenet, the former CIA director, last week. What happened to me should never be allowed to happen again.

(more…)

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Evidence Mounts Against UK Governments Denials Over Extraordinary Rendition

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Click to watch the TV report

Channel Four News has learned new details about suspected rendition flights through the UK at military airfield, RAF Northolt. Officially ministers are still insisting that information about flights is not recorded centrally and would prove too costly to provide.

But their foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller has been following the trail.

Click here to watch their special news report

In addition, this press release from Amnesty International provides further details linking flights to renditions.

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Public Carol Service in Parliament Square

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Public Carol Service

You are cordially invited to a public carol service in Parliament Square at 6pm on Wednesday the 21st of December 2005.

This inclusive service will contain both Christian and secular verse, and is expected to last no more than an hour.

Candles and song sheets will be made available, with donations going to Medical Aid for Iraqi Children.

Please note that if you attend this carol service, it will classify as a spontaneous demonstration (of faith, hope, joy and/or religious tolerance) and there is a possibility that you will be cautioned or arrested under Section 132 of the Serious and Organised Crimes and Police Act 2005.

Click here for more information.

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Torture: security vs. values

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The U.S. struggles to draw the line on interrogation

By Douglas Birch in the Baltimore Sun

Last year on an Afghan mountainside near the Pakistan border, a group of U.S. paratroopers on patrol spotted a 14-year-old hiding a cache of weapons and explosives. In the presence of a Sun reporter, they forced the boy to kneel on the rocky ground and put all his weight on his knees for an hour while heavily armed soldiers angrily questioned him.

Several times, the boy grimaced from the pain, closed his eyes and tottered, looking as though he were ready to faint. But he never admitted hiding weapons, even as soldiers scouring nearby caves stacked rockets, rifles and thousands of bullets in the dust nearby.

The weapons could have been used in deadly attacks. But the paratroopers were clearly uneasy about inflicting pain to leverage information, and – although they threatened to arrest their suspect – finally released the teenager with a warning. He was, as one said, “just a boy.”

(more…)

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Tortuous Distinctions

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The bitter row over secret “renditions” of terrorist suspects has highlighted fundamental differences between Europe and America over law and morality, Ian Black argues

From The Guardian

It’s not every day that the Council of Europe (CoE) tops the news bulletins, and unusual for a little-known Swiss senator to make headlines across the world. The 46-member human rights watchdog is routinely confused with the European Council – that’s the EU when it meets at head of government level. The Strasbourg-based body has no power at all – except to suspend members who break the rules.

But the CoE’s Dick Marty dropped a bombshell this week when he suggested that European governments may have been secretly cooperating with the US in its practice of kidnapping terrorist suspects -“extraordinary rendition” in American bureaucratese. That has given the organisation its rare moment in the limelight – and generated fresh embarrassment around a highly controversial issue.

(more…)

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Uzbekistan: Andijon Residents Speak About The Trials

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From RFE/RL

On 14 December, Uzbekistan’s Supreme Court announced the beginning of the first trial of Uzbek officials in connection with the bloodshed in Andijon in May, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reported. In a stark reminder of the gulf that now separates Uzbekistan from Western countries, which have called for an independent investigation of eyewitness accounts that Uzbek security services perpetrated a massacre in Andijon, the officials face charges not of employing excessive force, but rather of negligence in the performance of their duties.

On trial are 10 police officers, two prison medics, five prison guards, and 19 soldiers. One of the police on trial is Dilmurod Oqmirzaev, former head of the Interior Ministry’s Andijon section.

Most of the accused face charges of negligence on 12-13 May, when a group of armed men in Andijon carried out attacks on a local prison and army post before seizing the government administration building in the city center. The medics testified at an earlier trial that they supplied a mobile phone and relayed messages to Akram Yoldoshev, the jailed leader of the so-called Akramiya movement who Uzbek authorities have charged was behind the violence in Andijon. Elsewhere in Uzbekistan, 78 people are on trial for alleged direct involvement in the violence.

Behind Closed Doors

All of the trials are closed to the public, journalists, and human rights activists. In its statement, the Supreme Court said the measure was necessary to safeguard “state secrets in the criminal cases” and to guarantee “the security of victims, witnesses, and other trial participants.”

The first Andijon trial, which began on 20 September with guilty pleas from all 15 defendants and ended on 14 November with prison terms of 14-20 years, received heavy coverage from the international press. But as Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted in a 30 November press release on the organization’s website, the Uzbek government has blocked access to subsequent trials. Allison Gill, HRW’s representative in Tashkent, told RFE/RL why she thinks the authorities decided to clamp down.

“The government used the first trial as a theatrical spectacle to convey its version of events to the Uzbek people and the international community,” Gill said. “The trial was covered every day in detail by Uzbekistan’s state television channels, and foreign observers and correspondents were given permission to attend. But because the trial absolutely failed to meet fair-trial standards, it evoked very negative reactions. In order to prevent mounting criticism, the government decided to hold all further trials on the Andijon events behind closed doors. Moreover, there is the possibility, however small, that witnesses or defendants could open their mouths and say things that depart from the government’s script. This is why the trials are closed.”

‘Eliminate The Witnesses’

In Andijon itself, residents had their own reactions to the latest trial. “In the first place, the people on trial were witnesses to the events of 13 May,” one Andijon resident told RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service. “The most important task for Uzbekistan’s president today is to eliminate such witnesses because they could talk at some point in the future.”

The resident said he was personally acquainted with defendant Dilmurod Oqmirzaev, the former head of the Interior Ministry section in Andijon Province. “It’s now clear that evil, heartless men are coming to take the place of good police officers like Oqimirzaev,” the local said. “This is what they’re doing now to keep the people of Andijon in fear.”

Police Not To Blame

Asked about the actions of police on 13 May, the resident replied: “On 13 May, there were a lot of police in civilian dress and with white armbands. You could see on the faces of many police that they were being forced to do their work.” The individual said that some police showed a desire to join the demonstrators who gathered in the center of Andijon on 13 May, while others shouted at the protestors and threatened them with their weapons. He summed up, “Now the good police officers are on trial, while the ones who threatened the people with weapons are still doing their jobs.”

An elderly resident of Andijon told RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service that police conducted themselves honorably during the demonstrations that took place in Andijon before 13 May as a verdict neared in the trial of 23 businesspeople accused of membership of the Akramiya movement. “When our children were on trial, the police and their commanding officers were in the area,” she said. “We didn’t see them do anything bad.”

The woman asserted that the police were not responsible for the shooting on 13 May. “On 13 May in Andijon, it wasn’t the police, but the soldiers who shot at us,” she said. “The soldiers shot at us in Chulpon Street and in the village of Teshiktosh. We didn’t see any police or police commanders.”

Dilshodbek Tullakhujaev, the head of the Democratic Initiative Center in Andijon Province, told RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service that if any officials should be charged with dereliction of duty in connection with the events of 12-13 May, they should be from the National Security Service (SNB).

“When the attack began [on the night of 12 May], there were no commanders or officers on duty at the army post,” the man said. “As a result, they should be tried. But the heads of the provincial Interior Ministry section weren’t at fault. In my view, the main fault lies with the SNB. Now, the main job of the SNB is fighting against rights activists and democrats.”

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Germany: Uzbek Minister Accused of Crimes against Humanity

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From Human Rights Watch

Suit Filed in Germany Against Uzbek Minister Zokirjon Almatov

(Berlin, December 15, 2005) – Survivors of torture and the May 13 massacre of unarmed protesters in Andijan, Uzbekistan, filed a case on Monday in Germany calling for the prosecution of Zokirjon Almatov, Uzbekistan’s Minister of Internal Affairs, for crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today. Almatov is in Germany receiving medical treatment.

“This case represents a unique opportunity to bring a measure of truth and justice for some of the horrors that occurred under the command of Zokirjon Almatov,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “While the victims could not safely seek justice in Uzbekistan, German law allows them to seek redress before a German court.”

German law recognizes universal jurisdiction for torture and crimes against humanity. This means that Germany can try and punish the perpetrators of such crimes, no matter where the crimes were committed, and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators and victims.

Victims of abuse in Uzbekistan asked the German federal prosecutor to open a criminal investigation and pursue Almatov on three counts: individual crimes of torture, torture as a crime against humanity and the Andijan massacre as a crime against humanity. Crimes against humanity include widespread or systematic crimes against civilians, including murder and torture.

Human Rights Watch provided evidence to the prosecutor, supporting the

victims’ allegations against Almatov. Since the mid-1990s, Human Rights Watch has extensively documented the use of torture by police under Almatov’s command. Human Rights Watch also handed over evidence about the role of the police in the massacre of hundreds of civilians in Andijan in May 2005.

Almatov is accused of being responsible for the use of torture by police in places of pre-trial detention and in prisons, locations under his direct control.

Human Rights Watch said it is now up to the federal prosecutor of Germany to decide whether or not to open a criminal case against Almatov and pursue the matter.”The facts are there,” said Cartner. “If the prosecutor applies the law to the facts, Almatov will be arrested and tried in Germany.”

Germany has been a leader in creating accountability mechanisms for the most serious crimes under international law. The German government was a strong supporter of efforts to establish the International Criminal Court, and incorporated that court’s statute of international crimes into its own domestic law. This commitment to international justice reflects Germany’s struggle to come to terms with its own history and its recognition of the importance of bringing to justice those responsible for crimes such as mass slaughter, forced displacement on ethnic grounds and rape as a weapon of war.

“Germany has been a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court and its investigations in Africa,” added Cartner. “With the Almatov case, Germany has the chance to demonstrate its commitment by bringing justice through its own courts.”

In 2002, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture found torture in Uzbekistan to be “systematic.” Methods of torture that police use against people in detention include beatings with truncheons, electric shock, hanging people by their wrists or ankles, rape and sexual humiliation,asphyxiation with plastic bags and gas masks, and threats of physical harm to relatives.

One of the cases Human Rights Watch brought to the prosecutor’s attention was that of Muzafar Avazov, who died in August 2002 after having been immersed in boiling water in Jaslyk prison, run by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was arrested on charges of religious extremism.

Almatov also commanded the troops who bore primary responsibility for the mass killings that marked the bloodiest day in Uzbekistan’s recent history.

On May 13, 2005, in Andijan, thousands of protesters, almost all unarmed, were surrounded by troops from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as other security forces. Without warning, these forces opened fire on the crowd, killing and wounding hundreds. Those who tried to escape were mowed down by a waiting flank of government troops or were picked off by snipers posted atop surrounding buildings. Witnesses have said that the fleeing civilians did not stand a chance against the government’s firepower.

One eyewitness to the bloodshed, who saw people shot and killed all around him, told Human Rights Watch, “It was almost impossible to survive.” He said that the day after the slaughter, police walked among the bodies remaining on the ground and asked, “Who is wounded?” When those still living answered, “I am,” the officers fired single shots at them from guns with silencers, killing them. Those who could manage it fled the scene and crossed the border into Kyrgyzstan, and eventually to safety.

“Survivors of the massacre in Andijan have been brave enough to come forward with their memories of that horrible day,” said Cartner.

“They are asking for justice, and they deserve nothing less.”

For further information and background see the following Q & A

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Complicit by Inaction: Jack Straw in ‘rendition flights’ probe

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From IOL

London – Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was hit with a new probe Thursday into how much he and the government knew about alleged US “extraordinary rendition” flights of suspected terrorists.

Members of parliament dissatisfied with Straw’s previous statements on the controversial issue submitted a series of questions in the lower House of Commons and are demanding a fuller response.

Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government said Monday it had found no evidence of any American requests to fly terror suspects through Britain since September 11, 2001.

It has also repeatedly stated its opposition to torture, but Blair flatly refused Wednesday to query every US government flight coming into and leaving Britain, dismissing the suggestion as “completely absurd”.

MP Andrew Tyrie, from the main opposition Conservatives, said there was a “real risk” the government could find itself “complicit by inaction”.

“Turning a blind eye becomes something more than negligence and may be shown to be unlawful,” he told a London news conference.

He also called for the Security and Intelligence Committee, made up of senior MPs to investigate issues of national security, to look into the affair, which has concerned human rights groups and several European Union countries.

Lynne Jones, a rebel MP from Blair’s ruling Labour Party, said: “The longer this goes on, the more the government is brought into disrepute.

“It would be better if the government showed it was taking this seriously and investigating properly, rather than raising smokescreens.”

The questions ask Straw to specify whether the White House was asked why detainees were transferred to countries known to commit torture and to state how many transfers took place through British airspace.

Others include whether “blanket permission” had been granted for “extraordinary rendition” flights and if Straw’s check of flight records encompassed landings at military airfields and other private facilities.

It also called for the criteria under which it would refuse access to British facilities and airspace to be published.

Washington has come under fire over the last six weeks from reports about hundreds of Central Intelligence Agency flights, suspected of carrying undeclared prisoners across European airspace, since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

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Rendition victim was handed over to the US by MI6

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By Colin Brown in The Independent

MI6 officers interrogated a former UK student in Pakistan, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday. The man, a terrorist suspect, says MI6 handed him to the CIA for “extraordinary rendition” and torture .

The allegations by Binyam Mohammed el-Habashi, 27, in which he details the abuse, sleep deprivation and torture inflicted on him, were previously uncorroborated, but Mr Straw admitted for the first time that at least part of his story was true.

Reading from a brief, Mr Straw told MPs: “Mr Habashi was interviewed once in Karachi by the security services. The security services had no role in his capture or transfer from Pakistan. The security service officer did not observe any abuse and no incidents of abuse were reported to him by Mr Habashi.”

Asked whether he could confirm Mr Habashi was handed over to the Americans in Karachi, Mr Straw said: “I know nothing about it.” However, the official confirmation of Mr Habashi’s claims that he was seen by British MI6 officers while in custody in Pakistan will strengthen his legal claims that he was abused after being handed over to the US.

His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, believes Mr Habashi could be the first British resident to become a victim of extraordinary rendition by the US. He is facing trial at a military court at Guantanamo Bay, and could be jailed for life. No date has been set for his hearing.

MI6 officers interrogated a former UK student in Pakistan, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday. The man, a terrorist suspect, says MI6 handed him to the CIA for “extraordinary rendition” and torture .

The allegations by Binyam Mohammed el-Habashi, 27, in which he details the abuse, sleep deprivation and torture inflicted on him, were previously uncorroborated, but Mr Straw admitted for the first time that at least part of his story was true.

Reading from a brief, Mr Straw told MPs: “Mr Habashi was interviewed once in Karachi by the security services. The security services had no role in his capture or transfer from Pakistan. The security service officer did not observe any abuse and no incidents of abuse were reported to him by Mr Habashi.”

Asked whether he could confirm Mr Habashi was handed over to the Americans in Karachi, Mr Straw said: “I know nothing about it.” However, the official confirmation of Mr Habashi’s claims that he was seen by British MI6 officers while in custody in Pakistan will strengthen his legal claims that he was abused after being handed over to the US.

His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, believes Mr Habashi could be the first British resident to become a victim of extraordinary rendition by the US. He is facing trial at a military court at Guantanamo Bay, and could be jailed for life. No date has been set for his hearing.

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Europe will investigate CIA terror flights

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By Rory Watson and Philip Webster for Times Online

Euro MPs are to launch an investigation into allegations that the United States is operating secret CIA prisons on European soil and illegally transferring terrorist suspects between countries.

The inquiry, which will begin next year and looks certain to sour relations between Washington and Brussels, was approved by the European Parliament’s political group leaders tonight after mounting pressure from backbenchers.

The investigation could embarrass Poland and Romania, which have been accused of acting as a base for interrogating terrorist suspects or as a transit point for moving them to other countries.

Any violation of human rights by an existing EU member could see it stripped of its voting rights, while Romania, a candidate country which is hoping to join the Union in January 2007, could find its accession hopes dashed.

The parliamentary inquiry, which will have three months to present its initial findings, is expected to have an unusually wide remit. It is likely be asked to examine alleged abuses such as kidnapping, false arrest or illegal transfers not just within the European Union, but also on the territory of all countries with which it is associated.

It will consider whether the activities contravene European law and the European Charter of Human Rights and assess the potential consequences of any illegal and unlawful practices. However, while its members may travel freely and will be able to request that witnesses give evidence, they will not have the power to insist they do so.

The Euro MPs will co-operate with the separate investigation headed by Dick Marty, a Swiss senator, that the 46-nation Council of Europe launched last month.

Mr Marty reported yesterday that his month-long study “reinforced the credibility of the allegations” surrounding the CIA – although he said that any prisoners formerly held in secret sites had by now probably been transferred to North Africa.

Mr Marty said that he had unearthed “clues” that both Romania and Poland were implicated, perhaps unwittingly, in the CIA’s interrogation of terrorism suspects.

“Legal proceedings in progress in certain countries seemed to indicate that individuals had been abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal standards. It had to be noted that the allegations had never been formally denied by the United States,” he said.

“While it was still too early to assert that there had been any involvement or complicity of member states in illegal actions, the seriousness of the allegations and the consistency of the information gathered to date justified the continuation of an in-depth inquiry.

“If the allegations proved correct, the member states would stand accused of having seriously breached their human rights obligations to the Council of Europe.”

A leading British legal expert yesterday urged the Government to find out more about the CIA’s alleged use of British airspace to carry out renditions, saying Britain could be breaking the law if it fails to ask whether the practice leads to torture.

Simply relying on American assurances that aircraft that are being used to carry terrorists to interrogation centres and which stop over in Britain are not so called “torture flights” is not enough to comply with legal obligations, according James Crawford, professor of international law at Cambridge University.

In a legal opinion for MPs investigating the flights, Prof Crawford wrote that the question that must be asked is “whether torture is likely to take place if a person is transported, irrespective of whether or not the Government claims that the answer is no, or what its hopes or beliefs may be.

“Where governments are using public power to transfer persons at risk to a given country, in circumstances where earlier practices support credible allegations of torture in that country, mere assurances by the government, unaccompanied by other action, will be insufficent,” he concluded.

Growing unease about the CIA’s rendition programme, which is believed to have transported 3,000 terrorist suspects for interrogation around the world since 2001, has prompted investigations in Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden.

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