home

Plight of Hidden Detainees Coming to Light

Human Rights groups have complained for months about the U.S. secreting terror prisoners and detainees in foreign countries. The Guardian has reported on the disappearing detainees. Human Rights Watch issued this report on the "hidden detainees." Also more than a year ago, Human Rights Watch Attorney and Findlaw columnist Joanne Mariner wrote about them.

The Washington Post catches up with this new article on ConAir for Detainees--a Gulfstream V turbojet:

The CIA calls this activity "rendition." Premier Executive's Gulfstream helps make it possible. According to civilian aircraft landing permits, the jet has permission to use U.S. military airfields worldwide.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, secret renditions have become a principal weapon in the CIA's arsenal against suspected al Qaeda terrorists, according to congressional testimony by CIA officials. But as the practice has grown, the agency has had significantly more difficulty keeping it secret.

According to airport officials, public documents and hobbyist plane spotters, the Gulfstream V, with tail number N379P, has been used to whisk detainees into or out of Jakarta, Indonesia; Pakistan; Egypt; and Sweden, usually at night, and has landed at well-known U.S. government refueling stops.

As the outlines of the rendition system have been revealed, criticism of the practice has grown. Human rights groups are working on legal challenges to renditions, said Morton Sklar, executive director of the World Organization for Human Rights USA, because one of their purposes is to transfer captives to countries that use harsh interrogation methods outlawed in the United States. That, he said, is prohibited by the U.N. Convention on Torture.

Check out this list of countries and their accepted torture techniques.

< 'Dude' Actor Erik Aude Arrives Home After Release From Pakistani Prison | The Politics of Prisons >
  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


  • Display: Sort: