Further submission from Clive A Stafford
Smith, Director, Reprieve
RENDITIONS AND SECRET IMPRISONMENT IN DIEGO
GARCIA
I am writing in relation to the recent disclosure
by David Miliband that CIA ghost prisoners were in fact transported
through UK Overseas Territory in Diego Garcia. As you are aware,
for some time now Reprieve has been pushing for a full, public
inquiry into serious allegations of rendition and secret imprisonment
in Diego Garcia, not least in our submission of October 2007 to
the Foreign Affairs Select Committee's inquiry into the Overseas
Territories.
We have had very little response from your Committee
and have not been invited to present oral evidence in your inquiry.
Very many questions remain unanswered with regard to Diego Garcia's
role in the CIA rendition system and we certainly can no longer
fall back on US "assurances" that all is well.
I hope that the FAC will be investigating this
matter further and suggest that, as a matter of urgency, the following
issues must be determined and made public:
— The identities of the two men admitted
yesterday to have been rendered through Diego Garcia.
— Where these men were held prior to
their transfer from Diego Garcia and whether in fact either of
them were held on the island itself or on ships off Diego Garcia
prior to their transfer.[259]
— Where these men were taken having
been transferred from Diego Garcia and how they were subsequently
treated.
— What permissions were sought by the
Americans from the British in respect to these renditions or individuals.
— Full flight logs, data strings[260]
and passenger manifests of the planes on which these men were
transported.
— What permissions were granted and/or
guarantees or promises sought in respect to these renditions or
individuals.
— Any follow-up the British government
has made in respect of the conditions in which these men have
been held by the Americans or any other state.
— A full investigation into any other
flights which have stopped off in or flown through Diego Garcia.
— A full investigation into detentions
on any boats in any way supported by the naval base at Diego Garcia.
— A full investigation into reports
that any prisoners may have been held on or near Diego Garcia,
including but not limited to the following prisoners:
(i) Muhammed Saad Iqbal Madni
You mention in your letter that one rendition
flight took place in January 2002. Based on the difficult work
that we at Reprieve have done trying to track down the victims
of this illegal practice, a likely candidate for this illegal
act is Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni. Mr Madni (ISN 743) is a dual
Egyptian-Pakistani national who was seized in Jakarta, Indonesia,
on 9 January 2002, after arriving from Pakistan. Mr Madni has
insisted that he is innocent of any crime, and was in Jakarta
to visit his Indonesian step-mother and his brother after the
death of his father.
We have traced the plane, and on 9 January 2002,
the Gulfstream N379P (dubbed the "Rendition Express")
flew from Dulles to Cairo, presumably to pick up Egyptian "colleagues"
who would take part in the rendition process. The plane flew on
to Jakarta.
On 11 January, Mr Madni was hustled aboard N379P
and flown to Egypt. After leaving Mr. Madni to his fate in Cairo,
the plane flew from to Washington via Prestwick (once again, British
territory).
Meanwhile, Mr Madni spent 92 torturous days
in Egyptian custody, until 12 April 2002. He was then taken to
Afghanistan for 11 months, before arriving in Guantanamo on 22
March 2003. He became so depressed by his treatment that he attempted
suicide after 191 days in Guantanamo. He remains there to this
day.
(ii) Sheikh Al-Libi
The other person in our files who might fit
this profile is Sheikh Al-Libi, who was transferred off the USS
Bataan in January 2002, likely in the vicinity of Diego Garcia.
He was taken to Egypt, where he was tortured into "admitting"
that Al Qaida was in league with Saddam Hussein in the development
of weapons of mass destruction. This was one plank of President
Bush's case for the invasion of Iraq, a "confession"
specifically mentioned in President Bush's argument to the world.
It was, as we all know to our cost, entirely false, extracted
through torture of the most horrendous nature. He has indeed been
"released" by the US—but only in the sense that
he was rendered (refouled is the technical term, in violation
of the Refugee Convention and the Convention Against Torture)
to Libya where our information leads us to believe he is suffering
at the hands of the Gaddafi regime.
The government has stated that the second rendition
flight took place in September 2002. Flight logs for the N379P
"Rendition Express" show a flight from Washington to
Athens to Diego Garcia on 13 September. The plane subsequently
appeared in Morocco on 18 Septtember.
(iii) Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh
This plane may well have contained Ramzi Bin
al Shibh. He was apparently taken into custody on 11 September
2002, in Pakistan. He is, indeed, now in Guantanamo Bay, and has
been since being brought here in September 2006. More importantly,
he is facing capital charges brought by the US military on Monday
11 February 2008. If he was the prisoner taken through Diego Garcia,
there is a serious question as to whether the UK has violated
its legal obligation to secure from the US assurances that the
death penalty will not be imposed on a prisoner transferred from
British territory. Please could you make immediate inquiries to
determine whether this law has been violated and let me know,
as it may prove vital to preserving his life.
(iv) Hambali aka Riduan Isamuddin[261]
(v) Abu Zubaydah[262]
(vi) Khalid Shaikh Mohammed[263]
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
A full list of further lines of inquiry was
included in our submission to you of October 2007. These should
now be followed up as a matter of urgency. We urge you also to
invite Reprieve and other relevant organisations to present oral
evidence to your ongoing inquiry into the Overseas Territories.
BINYAM MOHAMED
Equally important, after visiting Diego Garcia,
N379P flew on to Morocco at a time when British resident Binyam
Mohamed was being tortured there (after himself being rendered
by the CIA). Around September 18, 2002, when N379P flew to Rabat,
Mr Mohamed was having a razor blade taken to his genitals as part
of an effort to build a case against him. He, too, languishes
in Guantanamo Bay. Was this rendition plane bringing someone else
for torture to Morocco? (Perhaps Mr bin al Shibh or another person.)
Or was it bringing American agents to take part in the torture
process against Mr Mohamed himself?
ALTERNATIVE USES
OF DIEGO
GARCIA TO
FACILITATE RENDITION
AND TORTURE
There have been at least 54 queries (parliamentary
questions and so on) concerning Diego Garcia, made in one form
or another. Many concern the use of the territory of Diego Garcia
to hold prisoners. More compelling however, is the idea that prisoners
were held on ships in the waters surrounding Diego Garcia and
supplied from the mainland. Whether this is technically within
"territorial waters" (defined perhaps as three miles)
or slightly further is immaterial. It has always been more likely
that the territory of Diego Garcia was not, itself, the place
where the major part of the rendition process was taking place.
This makes all the logic in the world, since the US has a modus
operandi: to hold prisoners in carefully controlled environments
that are protected from the annoyance of lawyers and journalists.
We have been tracking several ships that have been refitted to
act as prison ships. These ships are listed in our submission
to you of October 2007. Please would you make specific inquiries
about whether rendered or ghost prisoners have been held on ships
of this nature within a reasonable distance of any British territory
(including Diego Garcia) and in what ways British territory has
been used to supply such ships.
I thank you for your attention and look forward
to hearing from you.
26 February 2008
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/PDF/EndingSecretDetentions_web.pdf,
accessed 26/4/07.
http://foi.missouri.edu/terrorandcivillib/waronterror.html
accessed: 26/4/07.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2006/060403-gtmo-transcripts.htm,
accessed 26/4/07.
259 The second rendition flight allegedly took place
in September 2002. Flight logs for the N379P "Rendition Express"
show a flight from Washington to Athens and then to Diego Garcia
on 13 September. The plane subsequently appeared in Morocco on
18 September. Unless we believe a ghost prisoner was picked up
in Athens before being transferred to Diego Garcia, it seems likely
that a prisoner was in fact transferred to N379P from Diego Garcia
itself and then on to Morocco or Egypt. Back
260
The Council of Europe is in possession of these data-strings. Back
261
Ending Secret Detentions Report by Human Rights First,
June 2004 Back
262
Knox, Paul, War on terror ignites battle over course of U.S.
justice, The Globe and Mail, 5/9/02, Back
263
Selsky, Andrew, Guantanamo transcripts paint portraits of detainees,
but much remains cloudy, Associated Press, 3/4/06, Back
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