U.K. To Investigate CIA Prison Charge
Allegations that U.S. authorities held terrorist suspects on a remote Indian Ocean island as part of a secret prisons network will be examined by lawmakers in London, officials said Friday.
Parliament's Foreign Affairs committee is studying claims by the legal charity Reprieve that the CIA detained suspected terrorists at a base on Diego Garcia, an island leased from Britain by the United States.
Reprieve claims that at least three so-called "ghost" prisoners -- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Hambali -- were held on the island with the consent of British authorities.
President Bush acknowledged in September 2006 that the CIA had held the three and 11 others in secret prisons outside the United States, but did not say where the detention facilities were located.
Sheikh Mohammed is the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks; Zubaydah, an alleged conduit between Osama bin Laden and many al Qaeda cells; and Hambali, a suspected link between bin Laden and regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Reprieve alleges that those and others were subject to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The group also named two amphibious assault ships, the USS Bataan and the USNS Stockham, as being possible sites of "floating prisons" moored offshore from the island.
"There have been repeated, credible and concurrent claims that Diego Garcia has played a major role in the U.S. system of renditions and secret detention," documents submitted to the committee said.
But Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement the U.S. has given repeated assurances "no detainees, prisoners of war or any other persons" have been held on Diego Garcia, or have transited through the island. British officials insist they must be notified by Washington if any civilians are held on the base.
Although Diego Garcia is 60 miles away from any other island, the entire population of the Chagos archipelago -- 2,000 people according to the islanders, 1,000 according to the British government -- was relocated between 1967 and 1973.
In June, a report authored by Dick Marty, a Swiss senator and former prosecutor tasked by the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, raised the possibility that the island-territory was used as a processing center for detainees.
Andrew Tyrie, a British lawmaker, has urged the committee to investigate, claiming U.S. assurances are worthless.
"These assurances come from the same government that invented the rendition program, authorized the use of techniques that all in the civilized world would call torture, and continues to hold hundreds in the moral and legal black hole of Guantanamo Bay," he said.
In related documents, Reprieve also asserted that the logs of U.S. rendition flights indicated 23 stopovers in the Turks and Caicos en-route to or from known detention sites, many between Guantanamo Bay and other secret prisons.
Indictments of more than 30 people have been passed down in Germany and Italy relating to the Turks and Caicos flights for their role in renditions.
Associated Press Writer David Stringer contributed to this report.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Parliament's Foreign Affairs committee is studying claims by the legal charity Reprieve that the CIA detained suspected terrorists at a base on Diego Garcia, an island leased from Britain by the United States.
Reprieve claims that at least three so-called "ghost" prisoners -- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Hambali -- were held on the island with the consent of British authorities.
President Bush acknowledged in September 2006 that the CIA had held the three and 11 others in secret prisons outside the United States, but did not say where the detention facilities were located.
Sheikh Mohammed is the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks; Zubaydah, an alleged conduit between Osama bin Laden and many al Qaeda cells; and Hambali, a suspected link between bin Laden and regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Reprieve alleges that those and others were subject to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The group also named two amphibious assault ships, the USS Bataan and the USNS Stockham, as being possible sites of "floating prisons" moored offshore from the island.
"There have been repeated, credible and concurrent claims that Diego Garcia has played a major role in the U.S. system of renditions and secret detention," documents submitted to the committee said.
Reprieve subsequently states that the U.K. government failed to adequately investigate earlier accusations, and is potentially complicit in crimes against humanity.
But Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement the U.S. has given repeated assurances "no detainees, prisoners of war or any other persons" have been held on Diego Garcia, or have transited through the island. British officials insist they must be notified by Washington if any civilians are held on the base.
Although Diego Garcia is 60 miles away from any other island, the entire population of the Chagos archipelago -- 2,000 people according to the islanders, 1,000 according to the British government -- was relocated between 1967 and 1973.
In June, a report authored by Dick Marty, a Swiss senator and former prosecutor tasked by the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, raised the possibility that the island-territory was used as a processing center for detainees.
Andrew Tyrie, a British lawmaker, has urged the committee to investigate, claiming U.S. assurances are worthless.
"These assurances come from the same government that invented the rendition program, authorized the use of techniques that all in the civilized world would call torture, and continues to hold hundreds in the moral and legal black hole of Guantanamo Bay," he said.
In related documents, Reprieve also asserted that the logs of U.S. rendition flights indicated 23 stopovers in the Turks and Caicos en-route to or from known detention sites, many between Guantanamo Bay and other secret prisons.
Indictments of more than 30 people have been passed down in Germany and Italy relating to the Turks and Caicos flights for their role in renditions.
Associated Press Writer David Stringer contributed to this report.
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Posted by darkmeat4 at 06:30 PM : Oct 19, 2007
Have a cousin who went USN in 66 and got out in 94. Was a CT and helped setup the communication site on Diego Garcia.
I went USN in 68 - 6th Fleet Phiblant - Electronic Tech Radar
USS Boxer LPH-4
USS Cambria LPA-36
USS Nashville LPH-13
Met alot of USMC !!
wow what a world we have...
Posted by darkmeat4 at 06:30 PM : Oct 19, 2007
Ah! Learned how to be a soldier then learned how the other half lived, Eh?
Posted by darkmeat4 at 04:41 PM : Oct 19, 2007
As opposed to a nice big controlled demolition and super obvious actual bashing?
Gee, just because our president is a bald-faced liar no one wants to believe us anymore........
I was stationed at DG several times, for several months each since 2001 and I can assure the world there is NO-WAY in heII that there are ANY prisoners on that island.
For the amount of U.S. personnel on the base info of Al Qaeda and friends would spread like fire. The island is WAY, WAY to small to "hide" a facility on it.
What is DG? An airbase, and there are a bunch of bars for sailors and airmen.
The *** who tried to drop this story is just trying to stir the pot, another lame and obvious attempt at America bashing.
Everytime some libtard straight out lies, it makes the whole anti-war movement look like a bunch of mongoloids.
If the left wants to help itself out, it will stop diminishing its credability by shutting idiots like that Swiss monkey up.
Posted by darkmeat4 at 04:41 PM : Oct 19, 2007
What branch of service ?
"These assurances come from the same government that invented the rendition program, authorized the use of techniques that all in the civilized world would call torture, and continues to hold hundreds in the moral and legal black hole of Guantanamo Bay," he said.
This is what this administration brought this country''s reputation and credibility down to.