Letter to the Chairman from Andrew Tyrie
MP, Chairman All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition
RENDITION: DIEGO
GARCIA
The work of your Committee has been very valuable
in investigating extraordinary rendition, bringing us closer to
what really happened.
On 1 October 2008 I wrote to your Committee
about Diego Garcia, and attached a note on the relevant legal
regime. My letter set out that I would be grateful if you would
consider holding a short inquiry into the involvement of Diego
Garcia in the US rendition programme.
A number of us in the Group would be very grateful
to know what steps your Committee is considering, in order to
"examine further the extent of UK supervision of US activities
on Diego Garcia, including all flights and ships serviced from
Diego Garcia".[151]
As you know, almost a year on from the Foreign
Secretary's confirmation that two rendition flights used Diego
Garcia, both Governments have been reticent in response to requests
for further information on these flights, and British involvement
in the rendition programme more generally. I have subsequently
discovered that the US Administration provided inaccurate assurances
on this issue to the UK Government on at least eight separate
occasions.[152]
This information was disclosed as a result of Freedom of Information
Act requests and Written Answers.
Your Committee has clarified that US assurances
on torture cannot be relied upon. With this in mind, we need more
information relating to the fate of the two individuals rendered
through Diego Garcia. US assurances that neither of the detainees
were tortured or held in secret detention are insufficient. It
is important to establish, among other things, their identity;
the countries in which they were held and interrogated; and the
interrogation methods used on them.
It is important to examine whether the two rendition
flights breached agreements in place for the use of Diego Garcia
between the UK and the US; whether the law was broken in relation
to the two rendition flights; and whether any amendments are needed
to ensure Diego Garcia cannot be used for rendition flights in
the future. Further credible allegations surrounding the use of
Diego Garcia, and set out in previous correspondence, also require
investigation.
I am placing this letter in the public domain.
29 January 2009
151 Foreign Affairs Committee, Seventh Report 2007-08:
Overseas Territories, 6 July 2008, paragraph 70. Back
152
My letter of 1 October 2008 had stated that inaccurate assurances
were provided on at least seven occasions. Recent Written Answers
have established that the earlier information provided to me was
itself inaccurate. Back
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