Extraordinary Rendition - ER, what does it mean to you?
London Guantánamo Campaign | 18.04.2008 10:54 | Anti-militarism | Terror War | London | World
The folllowing is the new information leaflet produced by the London Guantánamo Campaign about Extraordinary Rendition, as part of our new campaign on extraordinary rendition - please distribute widely.
EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION
FEEL YOUR LIFE ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE IN A HURRY? WISH THE GROUND WOULD SWALLOW YOU WHOLE? DON’T WORRY…THE CIA CAN ARRANGE THIS FOR YOU!
ER…WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT?
Extraordinary Rendition (ER) is the CIA’s illegal practice of kidnapping and transferring individuals to countries where they are tortured, as they know that these countries use such practices regularly to extract confessions (lots of countries are happy to help out). The CIA believes that this – kidnap and torture - creates good intelligence to help in the fight against terrorism. It calls the people who “disappear” in this way “terror suspects” yet neither they nor we know what they are suspected of and no legal process ever ensues.
ER…WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT IF THEY ARE “TERROR SUSPECTS”?
The use of extraordinary rendition was authorised by former President Clinton back in 1995 to allow the CIA to kidnap foreign suspects abroad. Since 9/11, the use of this practice has expanded extensively and 100s of people have been extraordinarily rendered (kidnapped, transferred and tortured) under the “war on terror”. For example, many of the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay were kidnapped in Pakistan, transferred to Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay where they are/were tortured.
Torture is an ineffective way of getting answers out of people. It is also banned under international law. Torture has not made the world a safer place since 2001. Terrorism is criminal activity and should be dealt with under criminal law. What the US has created with extraordinary rendition (ER) is a new legal system that operates outside of what we know and understand the law to be – it is a lawless black hole operated by governments which people “disappear” into and become ghost prisoners.
ER…WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH BRITAIN?
Countries all over the world, from Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, are complicit in this programme. In February, the foreign secretary David Miliband, after years of questions by opposition MPs and human rights organisations finally admitted that two flights rendering victims had stopped off to refuel at a British overseas territory, the island of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. This admission means that Britain has assisted, is actively involved in and facilitates the torture of human beings. The two men on board were taken to Guantánamo Bay where one still remains. The government has denied that any such flights have passed through UK mainland airspace or airports, although credible reports by the Council of Europe and Amnesty International state otherwise. Other European countries have also facilitated this process by allowing “torture planes” to refuel on their territory and two EU countries, Poland and Romania, have been accused of running secret CIA torture jails on their territory. Such places are known as black sites.
ER…BUT IT HAPPENS TO FOREIGN NATIONALS, YOU SAID…
Dual nationality holder Martin Mubanga, a joint British-Zambian citizen, from north London, was a victim of this programme. He was kidnapped in Zambia in 2002 and was held and tortured in Guantánamo Bay for three years before being released. He faced no charges either there or in the UK. He claims that MI6 was involved in his rendition. Many other British nationals and residents rendered to Guantánamo Bay also claim to have been visited and questioned by MI5 and MI6 in secret jails.
ER…HOW AWFUL…BUT…
It gets worse. Binyam Mohamed is a 29 year old Ethiopian national who lived in Notting Hill, west London, for many years. In April 2002, he was arrested in Pakistan where he was detained for three months. In July 2002, the Pakistani authorities handed him over to the American military; back then, the US military was buying foreign nationals in Pakistan for $5000 a piece. The CIA flew him to Morocco where he was tortured for 18 months; for example, his body was slashed with a knife, including his genitals. In January 2004, he was taken to a secret jail in Kabul where he was tortured for five months before being taken on to Bagram, Afghanistan, and then finally to Guantánamo Bay in September 2004 where he has been held ever since. Understandably, Mr. Mohamed’s lawyers say that his mental health has deteriorated considerably and he is at the “end of his psychological tether”. While the British government asked the US government to send Mr. Mohamed back to the UK in August 2007, and does not consider him dangerous or a threat, the US government is refusing to release him after six years without conviction, dragging out his tragedy.
ER…WHY IS IT “EXTRAORDINARY”?
“Extraordinary” is a polite way of referring to the illegal nature of the operation. Not that there is anything ordinary about kidnap and torture! Nor does it exclusively affect foreign nationals or “terror suspects”; back in December 2007, a senior lawyer for the US government told the Court of Appeal in London that the US could kidnap British citizens “if they are wanted for crimes in the United States” in a case involving the attempted kidnap of the nephew of a British businessman wanted for tax fraud.
ER…WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS?
Leading organisations are calling for the British government to reveal the full extent of its involvement in this CIA-led programme of kidnap, transfer and torture called rendition. Earlier this year, Ben Griffin, a former SAS soldier who served in Iraq accused the British army of arresting and handing over Iraqis to the Americans knowing that they would be subjected to rendition. The London Guantánamo Campaign is running a campaign to raise awareness about this serious issue. To find out about events and actions we have planned and to get involved, please contact us by email
london_gitmo@yahoo.co.uk or visit our website www.guantanamo.org.uk Don’t let your government get away with its involvement in illegal activities that promote the use of torture!
EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION: COMING SOON TO AN AIRPORT NEAR YOU
HEALTH WARNING: EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION CAN SERIOUSLY DESTROY YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF THOSE CLOSE TO YOU
NO TO TORTURE! NO TO DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL! NO TO “DISAPPEARANCES”!
London Guantánamo Campaign
london_gitmo@yahoo.co.uk
www.guantanamo.org.uk
Part of the National Guantánamo Coalition
FEEL YOUR LIFE ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE IN A HURRY? WISH THE GROUND WOULD SWALLOW YOU WHOLE? DON’T WORRY…THE CIA CAN ARRANGE THIS FOR YOU!
ER…WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT?
Extraordinary Rendition (ER) is the CIA’s illegal practice of kidnapping and transferring individuals to countries where they are tortured, as they know that these countries use such practices regularly to extract confessions (lots of countries are happy to help out). The CIA believes that this – kidnap and torture - creates good intelligence to help in the fight against terrorism. It calls the people who “disappear” in this way “terror suspects” yet neither they nor we know what they are suspected of and no legal process ever ensues.
ER…WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT IF THEY ARE “TERROR SUSPECTS”?
The use of extraordinary rendition was authorised by former President Clinton back in 1995 to allow the CIA to kidnap foreign suspects abroad. Since 9/11, the use of this practice has expanded extensively and 100s of people have been extraordinarily rendered (kidnapped, transferred and tortured) under the “war on terror”. For example, many of the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay were kidnapped in Pakistan, transferred to Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay where they are/were tortured.
Torture is an ineffective way of getting answers out of people. It is also banned under international law. Torture has not made the world a safer place since 2001. Terrorism is criminal activity and should be dealt with under criminal law. What the US has created with extraordinary rendition (ER) is a new legal system that operates outside of what we know and understand the law to be – it is a lawless black hole operated by governments which people “disappear” into and become ghost prisoners.
ER…WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH BRITAIN?
Countries all over the world, from Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, are complicit in this programme. In February, the foreign secretary David Miliband, after years of questions by opposition MPs and human rights organisations finally admitted that two flights rendering victims had stopped off to refuel at a British overseas territory, the island of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. This admission means that Britain has assisted, is actively involved in and facilitates the torture of human beings. The two men on board were taken to Guantánamo Bay where one still remains. The government has denied that any such flights have passed through UK mainland airspace or airports, although credible reports by the Council of Europe and Amnesty International state otherwise. Other European countries have also facilitated this process by allowing “torture planes” to refuel on their territory and two EU countries, Poland and Romania, have been accused of running secret CIA torture jails on their territory. Such places are known as black sites.
ER…BUT IT HAPPENS TO FOREIGN NATIONALS, YOU SAID…
Dual nationality holder Martin Mubanga, a joint British-Zambian citizen, from north London, was a victim of this programme. He was kidnapped in Zambia in 2002 and was held and tortured in Guantánamo Bay for three years before being released. He faced no charges either there or in the UK. He claims that MI6 was involved in his rendition. Many other British nationals and residents rendered to Guantánamo Bay also claim to have been visited and questioned by MI5 and MI6 in secret jails.
ER…HOW AWFUL…BUT…
It gets worse. Binyam Mohamed is a 29 year old Ethiopian national who lived in Notting Hill, west London, for many years. In April 2002, he was arrested in Pakistan where he was detained for three months. In July 2002, the Pakistani authorities handed him over to the American military; back then, the US military was buying foreign nationals in Pakistan for $5000 a piece. The CIA flew him to Morocco where he was tortured for 18 months; for example, his body was slashed with a knife, including his genitals. In January 2004, he was taken to a secret jail in Kabul where he was tortured for five months before being taken on to Bagram, Afghanistan, and then finally to Guantánamo Bay in September 2004 where he has been held ever since. Understandably, Mr. Mohamed’s lawyers say that his mental health has deteriorated considerably and he is at the “end of his psychological tether”. While the British government asked the US government to send Mr. Mohamed back to the UK in August 2007, and does not consider him dangerous or a threat, the US government is refusing to release him after six years without conviction, dragging out his tragedy.
ER…WHY IS IT “EXTRAORDINARY”?
“Extraordinary” is a polite way of referring to the illegal nature of the operation. Not that there is anything ordinary about kidnap and torture! Nor does it exclusively affect foreign nationals or “terror suspects”; back in December 2007, a senior lawyer for the US government told the Court of Appeal in London that the US could kidnap British citizens “if they are wanted for crimes in the United States” in a case involving the attempted kidnap of the nephew of a British businessman wanted for tax fraud.
ER…WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS?
Leading organisations are calling for the British government to reveal the full extent of its involvement in this CIA-led programme of kidnap, transfer and torture called rendition. Earlier this year, Ben Griffin, a former SAS soldier who served in Iraq accused the British army of arresting and handing over Iraqis to the Americans knowing that they would be subjected to rendition. The London Guantánamo Campaign is running a campaign to raise awareness about this serious issue. To find out about events and actions we have planned and to get involved, please contact us by email
london_gitmo@yahoo.co.uk or visit our website www.guantanamo.org.uk Don’t let your government get away with its involvement in illegal activities that promote the use of torture! EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION: COMING SOON TO AN AIRPORT NEAR YOU
HEALTH WARNING: EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION CAN SERIOUSLY DESTROY YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF THOSE CLOSE TO YOU
NO TO TORTURE! NO TO DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL! NO TO “DISAPPEARANCES”!
London Guantánamo Campaign
london_gitmo@yahoo.co.uk www.guantanamo.org.uk
Part of the National Guantánamo Coalition
London Guantánamo Campaign
e-mail:
london_gitmo@yahoo.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.guantanamo.org.uk