December 09, 2005

And Condi Rice convinced them to hold their horses ... You can run but you can't hide ....

Cloud cast over rendition flights
Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday December 9, 2005
The Guardian
A Boeing 737 BBJ with registrations N313P and N4476S, which may have carried terror suspects, has been seen at UK airports and is seen here at Palma, Majorca.


Photograph: Toni Marimon/Airliners.net

The ringing phrases in the law lords' judgment denouncing torture are in striking contrast to statements by President Bush and his legal advisers, notwithstanding more robust comments this week by his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.
In this respect, at least, yesterday's ruling has a bearing on the running dispute over the CIA practice of "rendition" - transfer of terrorist suspects to camps and interrogation centres where they are more likely than not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, banned by international conventions and declarations which were approvingly cited in yesterday's judgments.
The law lords also referred to judgments in American courts. They referred to the UN convention which says torture includes, for example, "any act by which severe suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted" - a lower threshold than that which has been used by the Bush administration.
Yesterday's ruling may serve to put more pressure on the British government to say what it knows about CIA "torture flights" or the practice of "rendering" detainees, and whether it has turned a blind eye to them.

Full coverage
CIA rendition flights

Case studies
06.12.2005:
Seized, held, tortured: six tell same tale

Special reports
United StatesGuantánamo BayTerrorism threat to UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1663284,00.html

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