Liberty Puts Pressure on the UK [and US] over Extraordinary Rendition: Torture by proxy.

Liberty, the human rights organisation, today sent this letter to the Chief Constables of eleven police forces in the UK and to Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary:

"You will be aware from articles published in the Guardian and other newspapers, that there is very real suspicion that airports and military airbases in the United Kingdom are being used by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA"), in connection with the practice referred to as 'extraordinary rendition'.

"Extraordinary rendition involves CIA agents and operatives delivering people from one country outside the United States of America to the state authorities in a third country. It is strongly believed that the CIA engages in the practice in the full knowledge, indeed expectation, that the people it transports will be subjected to torture in the country to which they are delivered...

cont..

"Liberty is of the view that the United Kingdom Government is obliged by the European Convention and the other instruments mentioned above, not only to prevent torture and to investigate allegations of torture within the UK, but also to prevent people within its territory from being removed by third parties to other countries where there is a substantial risk that they will be subjected to torture and to investigate credible evidence that this has happened.

"I am therefore writing to you to request:

1. that you require the Government of the United States of America to declare whether it or its agents have used British airports or military airbases for the purposes of extraordinary rendition;

2. that you ensure that appropriate steps are undertaken to investigate whether British airports or military airbases have been used for this purpose; and

3. that you seek an assurance from the United States’ Government that neither it not its agents will in future use British airports or military airbases for the purpose of extraordinary rendition and that no flights for this purpose will pass through British airspace.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will seek to deflect growing European pressure over allegations that the CIA has been running secret prisons in the region on a trip to the continent next week.

Faced with European demands that the United States explain a newspaper report that secret detention centers to interrogate terrorism suspects were located in two unnamed east European countries, Rice intends to remind the Europeans that they are in a joint fight against an enemy that she says obeys no laws.

Her trip will include stops in Germany, Romania and at the EU headquarters Brussels.

"I think that the conversation will take place in the broader context of our common struggle against terrorism," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"This is a struggle that all free countries, including the countries of Europe, share with us: how to deal with groups of people, individuals, that respect no law, that wear no uniform, that follow no regulations."

Rice's planned approach on next week's trip matches the U.S. response to a weeks-old scandal that has fueled -- rather than defused -- concerns among European governments and the public.

Since The Washington Post reported this month that the CIA has held detainees in secret in eastern Europe, the Bush administration has refused to deny or confirm the allegation. Instead, it has repeatedly insisted it is waging a war on militants who act outside of the law.