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SWEDEN: Ahmed Agiza "rendered" by US agents from Sweden - although still in prison in Egypt - to get compensation. Ahmed Agiza, one of the two Egyptians who was "rendered" from Bromma airport by US agents, with the assistance by the Swedish secret service (security police) to Egypt, and there tortured and sentenced to 25 years (later changed to 15 years) prison, is to get approximately 330,000 euro in damages from the Swedish state. He is still in prison, and had demanded 35.000.000 Swedish crowns (about 4.000.000 euro) in damages, but now the Chancellor of Justice has come to an agreement with his lawyer to accept 330.000 euro.
The decision to allow the rendition was taken by Anna Lindh (at the time Minister for Foreign Affairs, later assassinated) and Thomas Bodstram (Minister of Justice) and led to Sweden being criticised by the UN Committee against torture (pdf). The head of the Security Service (SS) at the time, Klaes Bergenstrand (who was involved in the Leander case, where he together with Hans Corell produced statements that later forced the Government to give a public apology and Leander appr 45.000 € in tax free damages) died a couple of years ago. Background: 1. Sweden: Expulsions carried out by US agents, men tortured in Egypt; 2. Full-transcript of "The broken promise", TV4, Monday 17 May 2004: Transcript (pdf); 3. Ambassador's report: Report (in Swedish, 1.32 MB) which includes the following: TV4:s translation of Embassy report 1, classified part on Page 2: 23 January 2002UK: MI5 criticised for role in case of torture, rendition and secrecy (Guardian, link)
UK-USA-RENDITION: Reprieve Press Release: As New Evidence Emerges that ‘War on Terror’ Prisoners were Held on Diego Garcia, Reprieve Demands Immediate Action from the British Government (pdf)
USA: RENDITION-TORTURE-US ASSURANCES: Report from the UK House of Commons foreign Affairs Committee: Human Rights Annual Report 2007 (pdf). It includes the following Conclusions:
"We conclude that, given the clear differences in definition, the UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the
Government does not rely on such assurances in the future.""We conclude that it is extremely important that the veracity of allegations that the Government has “outsourced” interrogation techniques involving the torture of British nationals by Pakistani author authorities should be ities investigated."
"We conclude that the Government has a moral and legal obligation to ensure that flights that enter UK airspace or land at UK airports are not pa part of the “rendition
rt circuit”, even if they do not have a detainee on board during the time they are in UK territory. We recommend that the Government should immediately raise questions about such flights with the US authorities in order to ascertain the full scale of the rendition problem, and inform the Committee of the replies it rece receives in its response ives to this Report."Council of Europe: New book: CIA above the law? Secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers of detainees in Europe (300 pages, link to ordering page, hard-copy 23 euro, pdf 8 euro)
MASRI-UN-MACEDONIA: The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) and the Human Rights Committee (HRC) have advised the Macedonia government to undertake a new and thorough investigation into the abduction and ill-treatment of Mr Khaled El-Masri when held by CIA agents in secret detention:
- HRC report (pdf)
- CAT report, 21 May 2008 (pdf)
- CAT report, 20 May 2008 (pdf)EU countries obstructing investigations into CIA renditions, report says (euobserver, link) "The "most important" of the CIA's secret detention prisons, or 'black sites', in the years immediately following the 11 September attacks was situated in Szymany, some 160km north of Warsaw, according to officers with the US intelligence service. In a weekend article in the New York Times newspaper, unnamed CIA officers tell of one of the presumed dozens of sites, hitherto vehemently denied by the Polish government as having been located within the country."
CIA-RENDITION: Rights groups demand investigation of CIA’s Extraordinary Rendition Program: Lawsuits against Germany, US and Macedonia seek justice for Khaled El Masri (pdf)
"The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Berlin, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), both based in New York, met today in Berlin with lawyers from Germany, Macedonia and the United Kingdom to discuss the latest developments in the CIA rendition case of German citizen Khaled El Masri.
ECCHR filed today a lawsuit against the German Government at the Berlin administration court for its failure to demand the extradition of 13 CIA agents suspected of having illegally “rendered” Mr. El Masri from Macedonia to a US prison in Kabul, Afghanistan."EU capitals ignore Brussels' questions about rendition flights (euobserver, link)
Italy: Abu Omar trial to go ahead as government is accused of "disloyalty"
USA-UK: Homeland Security's Chertoff, Britain's Interior Minister Discuss Travel Security Issues (US Mission in the EU, link) Mr Chertoff was asked about reported US demands that it will require passenger details for all flights from the EU over-flying the USA. His response is interesting in the context of the difficulties faced by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe requesting information from EU governments on over-flying CIA flights: "Under the Chicago Convention, which I think goes back almost 50 years, anybody who wants to come into the airspace of a country has to submit to the rules and regulations of the country whose airspace they're entering, whether it’s to land or to overfly. We generally require, and will require, under a program called Secure Flight: name, passport number, and maybe one or two other items of information from the manifest of anybody who is going to overfly the United States – and that’s pursuant to this international arrangement.
UK-RENDITION FLIGHTS: Reprieve report: Enforced disappearance, illegal interstate transfer and other human rights abuses involving the UK Overseas Territories (pdf) UK apology over rendition flights (BBC, link) "David Miliband has admitted two US "extraordinary rendition" flights landed on UK territory in 2002. In a statement to MPs the foreign secretary said in both cases, US planes stopped on the UK dependent territory of Diego Garcia to refuel."
RENDITIONS- Background: Portugal: Over 700 prisoners flown to Guantánamo through Portuguese airspace
REPRIEVE: The “Journey of death” - Over 700 prisoners illegally rendered to Guantanamo with the help of Portugal (pdf) "Reprieve can now conclusively show that the Portuguese territory and airspace has been used to transfer over 700 prisoners to torture and illegal imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay."
Interview with the Wife of Abou Elkassim Britel (Cageprisoners, link)
23 January 2008: CoE-TERRORIST LISTS: PACE demands review of UN and EU blacklisting procedures for terrorist suspects, which ‘violate human rights’ (press release, link). See below for Marty report and recommendations.US-CIA: Detention sites (press release) Full-text of report (link, pdf)
Italy: Renditions: Britel announces hunger strike
11 December 2007: CIA RENDITION-IRISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION report: "Extraordinary rendition" inspection and monitoring regime must be established as a matter of urgency: Diplomatic assurances not enough says Irish Human Rights Commission (Press release, 11 December 2007, pdf). The full text of the IHRC Report (20 MB, link)
"The report concludes that diplomatic assurances received from the US Government are not sufficient for Ireland to satisfy its human rights obligations with regard to the issue of ‘extraordinary rendition’ flights passing through Irish territory.
The Commission recommends that an effective inspection regime be put in place to ensure that no foreign aircraft which might be suspected of involvement in the illegal practice of ‘extraordinary rendition’ may land and refuel in Ireland. An effective inspection regime will ensure that no prisoners are transited through the State en route to a situation of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
COUNCIL OF EUROPE: Procedures for blacklisting individuals suspected of terrorist links are unworthy of the UN Security Council and EU (12 November 2007, full-text of report, pdf) says PACE. The Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), which today approved a report by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE). These procedures, which are "unworthy" of the UN and EU, must urgently be overhauled to make them fairer. Earlier report by Marty: UN Security Council black lists (March 2007, pdf)
Claims of secret CIA jail for terror suspects on British island to be investigated - Legal charity urges action on Diego Garcia claims · Prisoners may have been held in ships off coast (Guardian, link)
Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee denounces secret detention: "Strasbourg, 14.09.2007 - In its 17th General Report published today, the CPT denounces secret detention, an illegal practice that has been resorted to in particular in the context of the fight against terrorism. Secret detention amounts in itself to ill-treatment and – due to the removal of fundamental safeguards which it entails - inevitably heightens the risk of resort to other forms of ill-treatment. Responding to reports that certain secret detention facilities were located in European countries, the CPT invites anyone who is in possession of information concerning such facilities to bring it to the attention of the Committee.
The CPT also comments on the related issue of extra-judicial transfers from one country to another, so-called "renditions". The Committee is particularly concerned by the practice of rendition for the purposes of detention and interrogation outside the normal criminal justice system. "Operations of this kind inevitably involve a risk of ill-treatment for the person concerned that no 'assurances' can ever fully remove; it follows that the authorities of Parties (to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture) should never offer assistance in the context of such operations". (CoE, press release)
Full-text of General Report (pdf)
August 2007: SCOTLAND-RENDITION: Report from Reprieve: Scottish involvement in extraordinary rendition (pdf)
Dick Marty submission to the US Supreme Court where he presents argumnet concerning the kidnapping of German citizen Khaled El-Masri by the CIA: Marty submission (pdf)
European Parliament inquiry (TDIP) on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners - documents and reports - and follow-up
25 July 2007: UK-USA RENDITION: Damning report from the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee: UK agencies and Rendition (pdf) Committee press release (pdf) Government's response to the report (pdf)- in the case of Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna where UK agencies provided evidence to the USA with the caveat "speicifcally prohibiting any action being taken - this was disregarded by the USA and Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna triggered their arrest and "Rendition to Detention". Moreover, the Security Service failed to tell Ministers about their relationship with Bisher al-Rawi and that it: "took *** years, and a court case, to bring it to their attention"
- the SIS (MI6) and Security Service (MI5) were "slow" to appreciate the "change in US rendition policy": "the Agencies should have detected the emerging pattern of renditions sooner and used greater caution in working with the U.S. at an earlier stage."- "in fighting international terrorism it is clear that the U.S. will take whatever action it deems is necessary, within U.S. law, to protect its national security.
Although the U.S. may take note of UK protests and concerns, it does not appear materially to affect their strategy"
- the Committee had difficulties in a number of areas getting information: GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters, which runs - with NSA - a global communications surveillance system) passed intelligence to the US National Security Agency (NSA) which could have passed it to the CIA. The Committee simply had to accept that the GCHQ-NSA agreement that this required "explicit permission" actually worked. Similarly "General Aviation Reports" on flight plans "appears to be systematically flawed" so complete data on flights was not available.
- the Committee recommends that despite "caveats and assurances" any future requests which could lead to rendition should be referred to Ministers for approval.CoE: CIA secret detentions in Europe: PACE urges oversight of military and foreign intelligence services (CoE, link)
Council of Europe: Clandestine CIA operations authorised through NATO including those in Poland and Romania: Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states: Second report (link to press release). Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving CoE members: second report by Dick Marty (full-text, pdf) and - Disguised CIA flights to Poland (link to graph); - The "secure zone" for CIA transfers and secret detentions in Romania (link); - Flight logs related to the secret "homeward rendition" of Khaled El-Masri in May 2004 (pdf); - The investigation into secret detentions in Europe: a chronology (link)
US-DISAPPEARED-DETAINEES: Leading Human Rights Groups Name 39 CIA “Disappeared” Detainees & Three Groups File Lawsuit Seeking Information about “Ghost” Detention (press release) Briefing: Off the record: US responsibility for enforced disappearances in the "war on terror", full-text with names (pdf)
In the most comprehensive accounting to date, six leading human rights organisations today published a briefing paper revealing the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody and whose current whereabouts remain unknown.
The list - drafted by Amnesty International, Cageprisoners, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law, Human Rights Watch, and Reprieve - provides new names of missing detainees, new information about those known to be disappeared, and names relatives of suspects who were themselves detained in secret prisons, including children as young as seven.US: Firm to be sued over 'torture flights' (Guardian, link)
Poland: UN Committee against torture - report on Poland (pdf)
EP-USA-CIA: Press release from the European Parliament on the delegation to the USA (pdf)
15.4.07: Renditions: Italy / Morocco: Italian authorities drag their feet in Britel case
ITALY-CIA-RENDITION: Americans and Italians are indicted in CIA kidnapping case (International Herald Tribune, link) MILAN, Italy: An Italian judge on Friday indicted 26 Americans and five Italians for what will be the first criminal trial over the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. The judge set a trial date for June 8. Prosecutors allege that five Italian intelligence officials worked with the Americans - almost all CIA agents - to abduct terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003.
UPDATE: EP: The European Parliament has adopted (14 February 2007) a highly critical report on CIA renditions and detentions and on the activities of a number of EU governments including the UK, Austria, Italy, Poland and Portugal. The report: "gives detailed evidence of investigations of illegal rendition or CIA flight cases involving Germany, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Turkey, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Bosnia and Romania." Full-text of the European Parliament Resolution adopted on 14 February 2007 on CIA rendition and detention (pdf) Press release on the CIA rendition debate and amendments agreed (pdf). Excellent summary in Working Document no 9 of the key evidence (eg: cases and flights) gathered on Italy, UK, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Romania and Poland to back up the Resolution above: Evidence gathered on key EU states - CIA rendition and detention (pdf) This should be read in conjunction with: Working Document no 7 (extraordinary renditions) and Working Document no 8: Companies working for the CIA and stop-overs in the EU. Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "The European Parliament's committee of inquiry has done a great public service in gathering evidence to show not just the extent of CIA renditions through and abductions in the EU but also the collusion - by "turning a blind eye" - of EU governments. This have been achieved with little or no help from the other EU institutions (European Commission and the Council of the European Union)."
USA, UK, Germany, Spain and Italy have refused to sign up to the UN Convention on banning disappearences and secret detention. Fifty-seven countries joined at the treaty signing in Paris on 6 February 2007. The Covention was adopted by the general assembly on 20 December 2006 and becomes operational when a minimum of 20 states have ratified it. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons and Enforced Disappearance places an "absolute ban" on on secret detentions, provides for tracing the whereabouts of the "disappeared" and for the right of reparation. France led the initiative for the Convention and its officials estimated that 51,000 people have been disappeared by governments in over 90 countires since 1980. International Convention for the Rptection of All Persons and Enforced Disappearance - full-text (pdf) UN press release (pdf) US refuses to sign UN ban on renditions and secret detention (World Socialist Website, link)
Italy: Renditions: Abu Omar freed in Egypt: Rendition victim Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, aka Abu Omar, was released on 11 February 2007 from Tora high security prison in the outskirts of Cairo. He was kidnapped on 17 February 2003 in Milan, in a case that has resulted in arrest warrants being issued against 13 CIA officers and charges being brought against Nicolò Pollari, the head of the Italian military secret service (SISMI), and other high-level SISMI officials. Abu Omar's Egyptian lawyer noted that the depression that he had experienced in prison had led to three suicide attempts, and his wife, Nabila, expressed her happiness while noting that "He is happy but tired… the prison and torture have deeply marked him. They have changed him". (Repubblica, 12.2.2007).
Portugal: Renditions: Judicial investigation into CIA flights begins
GERMANY-CIA RENDITION: A German court in Munich has issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents involved in the kidnapping and rendition of Khaled al-Masri who was abducted in 2003 in Macedonia, flown to a secret prison in Afghanistan and tortured: Speigel Online (link) and BBC News (link).
ITALY-CIA: Italian judge issues arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents involved in the kidnapping and rendition of Abu Omar to Egypt where he was tortured: Abu Omar: Evidence as presented to the courts (pdf, 210 pages) See also Statewatch's Observatory on CIA renditions and detention (documents) and CIA team wanted over Milan 'kidnap' (Guardian, link)
European Parliament inquiry into CIA rendition and detention: Inquiry report as adopted by the Committee on Civil Liberties (pdf). The report now goes to the plenary session. Press release on committee report
January 2007: EU-CIA-RENDITION: Deep in Le Carré country, the remote Polish airport at heart of CIA flights row - Former director tells how planes were met by vehicles from nearby military base (Guardian, link) Confirmation that Szymany airport was used extensively for CIA rendition flights.
EU-CIA Inquiry: Furious exchange of letters between Mr Solana (Council of the European Union) and the European Parliament's Inquiry chair (French) and Statewatch translation (English, pdf)
Report in Unita newspaper: Secret CIA flights, lo and behold, the secret papers (pdf)
Sweden: UN Human Rights Committee finds that Sweden broke the international prohibition against torture. The case concerned the rendition of two Egyptians from Sweden 2001 by undercover US and Egyptian agents. The UN Committee also states that the treatment of the two men on Swedish soil (Bromma Airport in Sweden) in connection with the rendition was a breach of the ban on torture and inhuman treatment: Full text of: UN Human Rights Committee Decision, 6 November 2006
Latest documents added include:
Correspondence between the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Irish government (4 documents): Documents submitted - full-text
Draft report of the year-long inquiry (pdf)
Two substantive working documents of inquiry: On extraordinary rendition (Working documents no 7, including details of cases considered) and On the companies linked to the CIA, aircraft used by the CIA and the European countries in which CIA aircraft have made stopovers (Working document no 8, 64 pages) See for full background and documentation: Statewatch's Observatory on CIA rendition
ABC News on those detained and sbjected to "enhanced" interrogation techniques
The "de longhi" file on the Britel case (37 documents plus 2 notes) Explanatory analysis: Italy: Documents sent to European Parliament committee on renditions allege other renditions and details of Abu Omar cover-up and the Britel rendition
News:
EU-CIA-Inquiry: Former Guantanamo detainee meets MEPs investigating CIA renditions (European Parliament press release). "When Murat Kurnaz - a German resident of Turkish origin - travelled to Pakistan in late 2001 to "find himself and deepen his faith", he told MEPs on Wednesday, he was arrested by the Pakistani police. "They caught me and sold me to the Americans for 3,000 or 5,000 dollars," he said. Mr Kurnaz was transferred to a prison in Afghanistan and later flown to Guantanamo, where he remained until August this year when he was released without charge.
Italy: SISMI (Defence Ministry) Pollari leaves, Bruno Branciforte appointed (link)
CIA-Rendition: European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) “Extraordinary rendition - a European Perspective" speech by Olivier Dutheillet de Lamothe (Substitute member, France) (Cardozo School of Law, 25 September 2006 - "Bauer Lecture")
Italy: Documents sent to European Parliament committee on renditions allege other renditions and details of Abu Omar cover-up and the Britel renditionPortugal: Evidence of illegal CIA rendition flights surfacing
Portugal: Renditions continue: Algerian prisoner abducted and deported
Italy: Renditions: Judge notifies defendants of the state of play in investigations into Abu Omar rendition: High-level SISMI and CIA officials involvedLatest agenda: 28 November 2006 and 30 November 2006
Calendar of meetingsDocuments submitted - full-text - 222 to date
Interim report: Text report as adopted by the Committee of inquiry: Interim report
Reports from Council of Europe and NGOs - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Redress, Cagedprisoners
Agendas archive:
13.11.06
23.10.06
9.10.06
25-09-06
14-09-06
04.09.06
10.07.06
03.07.06
12.06.06
01.06.06
30.05.06
15.05.06
04.05.06
25.04.06
20.04.06
03.04.06
23.03.06
21.03.06
13.03.06
06.03.06
23.02.06
13.02.06
26.01.06Verbatim transcripts of hearings
Members of the Temporary Committee
EP decision to set up the CommitteePlease send: contributions. comments, broken links etc to: office@statewatch.org
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