Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Legal Opinion: Has Britain been complicit in a US torture programme?

Legal Opinion: Has Britain been complicit in a US torture programme? 
Some MPs believe British overseas territories have been used for the
torture of terror suspects. Robert Verkaik, Law Editor, examines the
evidence 
Published: 17 October 2007 
Diego Garcia, a tropical island located in the middle of the Indian Ocean,
has long since given up its once-cherished status as a paradise
destination. The last remaining coconut plantations were uprooted in the
1970s to make way for a US military base which is now home to nearly 2,000
American personnel. 
At the height of the Cold War, the island's key role was to provide a home
for US Air Force bombers and Awacs surveillance planes, as well as serve
as a satellite-tracking station and communications facility. But
independent military experts believe that, since 9/11, this
horseshoe-shaped atoll has become the sinister destination for terror
suspects who have undergone "extraordinary rendition".
A report by the Council of Europe published earlier this year found
evidence that Diego Garcia was being used by the CIA as a secret prison
and holding centre for people whom the Americans wished to interrogate and
torture outside international law.
Both this report and human rights groups allege that Britain has played a
complicit role in the use of the island as a staging post for
international torture flights. Diego Garcia is a British overseas
territory, part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), leased to
our American allies and still home to around 50 UK military personnel.
The United States continues to deny using the island as a torture base and
Britain stands by this denial. But after the British government's belated
acceptance of the unlawful status of Guantanamo Bay, some politicians
believe Britain's stance on Diego Garcia is similarly untenable.
On 26 June this year, in one of his last appearances before Parliament,
the former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC said that he had been
assured that the island had not been used for "processing high-value
detainees". In an answer to a question from a member of the Joint
Committee on Human Rights, Lord Goldsmith replied:
We do not operate ourselves in Diego Garcia, as you will know, but I am
aware that the United Kingdom has been assured firmly by the United States
that it does not use Diego Garcia for the holding of detainees, prisoners
of war or anything of that sort.
But such statements have not been enough to silence those who continue to
doubt the reliability of American assurances. Yesterday, the Conservative
MP Andrew Tyrie wrote to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, requesting
that it investigate allegations of the use of British territory in the US
rendition programme as part of its inquiry into the Overseas Territories.
In his letter, he wrote: "There have been repeated allegations that the US
has used the British territory of Diego Garcia in its rendition programme.
Yet the Government has done next to nothing to investigate them."
Mr Tyrie added:
The UK government continues to turn a blind eye to breaches of the rule of
law. Extraordinary rendition, whereby people have been kidnapped around
the world and taken to places where they may be maltreated or tortured,
demands its attention. It is high time our government took its head out of
the sand and looked into these allegations for itself.
Should Britain be found to have played a complicit role in the use of
torture or other breaches of human rights undertaken by American forces in
Diego Garcia, then ministers could be held to account in a UK court of law
or even face charges at the International Criminal Court.
-- 
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 Am.
#_E`un po' troppo scomoda la base Diego Garcia per sbadigliare e 
addormentarcisi!!! <g>
Giano 

Legal Opinion: Has Britain been complicit in a US torture programme?
Some MPs believe British overseas territories have been used for the
torture of terror suspects. Robert Verkaik, Law Editor, examines the
evidence
Published: 17 October 2007
Diego Garcia, a tropical island located in the middle of the Indian
Ocean, has long since given up its once-cherished status as a paradise
destination. The last remaining coconut plantations were uprooted in
the 1970s to make way for a US military base which is now home to
nearly 2,000 American personnel.
At the height of the Cold War, the island's key role was to provide a
home for US Air Force bombers and Awacs surveillance planes, as well
as serve as a satellite-tracking station and communications facility.
But independent military experts believe that, since 9/11, this
horseshoe-shaped atoll has become the sinister destination for terror
suspects who have undergone "extraordinary rendition".
A report by the Council of Europe published earlier this year found
evidence that Diego Garcia was being used by the CIA as a secret
prison and holding centre for people whom the Americans wished to
interrogate and torture outside international law.
Both this report and human rights groups allege that Britain has
played a complicit role in the use of the island as a staging post for
international torture flights. Diego Garcia is a British overseas
territory, part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), leased
to our American allies and still home to around 50 UK military
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