AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
PRESS RELEASE

December 15, 2005

(Washington, DC) Amnesty International today published the details of CIA flights that used United Kingdom airfields to refuel just hours after transferring detainees to countries where they risked torture.

The information concerns two flights in late 2001 and one in early 2002, in which planes that had taken detainees to Jordan and Egypt landed immediately afterwards at Prestwick airport in Glasgow for refueling before heading back to the United States.

On Monday, December 12, 2005, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw stated that since U.S. President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, the U.K. government found no evidence of a request from the United States "for overflights or for refueling or other facilitation for what you've described as rendition...nor are we aware by other means of any such case."

"Here we go again -- more proof that the United States is 'disappearing' people into secret facilities and outsourcing torture," said Amnesty International USA Executive Director William Schulz. "The United Kingdom must be held accountable for assisting the United States in illegally transporting detainees to countries where they may be tortured or receive other ill-treatment."

"Rendering people to countries with a proven record of torture -- as documented by the U.S. State Department -- violates U.S. and international law as well as core principles that Americans embrace. Amnesty International is urging Capitol Hill to create an independent commission to investigate all aspects of U.S. detention and interrogation practices," added Schulz.

Amnesty International's information concerns a Gulfstream V turbojet, then registered as N379P, which between 2001 and 2005 made at least 78 stopovers at U.K. airports while en route to or from destinations such as Baku, Dubai, Cyprus, Karachi, Qatar, Riyadh, Tashkent, and Warsaw.

Records show that three of these flights were directly connected to known cases of rendition:

1. On October 23, 2001, witnesses saw Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed being bundled on board a Gulfstream V, registration N379P, by a group of masked men. The plane flew Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed to Jordan. The following day, the Gulfstream flew to Glasgow Prestwick to refuel, then back to Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC. Amnesty International has repeatedly requested information from the U.S. authorities about the current whereabouts and legal status of Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, but has received no reply.
2. On December 18/19, 2001, according to an inquiry conducted by the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsmen, the Gulfstream V took Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed al-Zari from Sweden to Cairo. Amnesty International's records show that the plane made several trips between Cairo and Prestwick earlier in the month, and it stopped to refuel at Prestwick after leaving the two detainees in Cairo, where they were reportedly tortured. In March 2005, the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman in Sweden, having reviewed the Swedish government's role in the transfer to Egypt of the two detainees, concluded "the Swedish Security Police lost control of the situation at the airport and during the transport to Egypt. The American security personnel took charge... Such total surrender of power to exercise public authority on Swedish territory is clearly contrary to Swedish law."
3. On January 12, 2002, according to Indonesian security officials, the Gulfsteam V, N379P, took Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni from Jakarta to Cairo. Amnesty International records confirm previous media reports that when the plane left Cairo, it flew to Prestwick to refuel. Iqbal Madni has since been returned to U.S. custody and is currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He does not have a lawyer, and other detainees have said in the last month that he is in poor condition and "at risk of losing his mind."

The British government must not allow its territory and facilities to be used to assist rendition flights. Officials must also provide full cooperation with the investigations to be carried out by the European Parliament and by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on allegations about secret detention centers.

Contact: Sharon Singh, 202-544-0200 x289

Send this page to a friend

Your Email:
Friend's Email:
Add a Message:
Security code: (case sensitive)