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Britain handled 73 CIA rendition flights

Richard Norton-Taylor

Parliamentarian says disclosure raises serious questions

London: Aircraft suspected of being used by the CIA for ``extraordinary rendition'' — the practice of sending detenus to camps, including Guantanamo Bay, where they were at risk of being tortured — passed through British airports on 73 occasions since 2001, the British Government disclosed on Friday.

They included an aircraft which took off from the Afghan capital Kabul and landed in Edinburgh on November 25, 2002 before continuing its journey to Washington.

The aircraft, registered N85VM, landed at Guantanamo Bay on a number of occasions in 2002 and 2003, sometimes via the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean, a British overseas territory, according to flight records seen by the London Guardian newspaper.

New details of aircraft known to be used by the CIA were disclosed by U.K. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling, in answer to a parliamentary question from Michael Moore, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman. Some of the aircrafts landed here on their way to West Asia.

Mr. Darling said none of the information held by his officials ``provides evidence that these flights were involved in rendition''. He said that Britain had made clear to the U.S., ``including in recent months'', that the Government expected it to seek permission before rendering detenus via British territory and airspace.

Mr. Moore said on Friday night that the disclosures raised serious questions about the number and purpose of CIA flights through the U.K.

He added: ``A fundamental question remains unanswered: has the U.K. Government actually asked the U.S. how many individuals have been rendered through Britain? If this hasn't been asked, then why on earth not?''

The U.K. Ministry of Defence admitted last week that two aircraft known to have been chartered by the CIA landed 14 times at RAF Northholt, west London, and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, west of the British capital, between October 2003 and May 2004. One aircraft, a Boeing 737, was registered N313P, the other, a Gulfstream, was initially registered N379P and later N8068V. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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