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Britain apologises for extraordinary rendition flights

LONDON: After consistently denying that Britain had any role in America’s controversial “extraordinary rendition” flights, the government on Thursday admitted that two such flights did land on U.K. territory in 2002 for refuelling. Foreign Secretary David Miliband apologised to MPs for the previous denials but insisted that they were made in “good faith.”

In a statement, he said he was “very sorry” that previous claims about Britain’s non-involvement in the notorious flights had turned out not to be correct. He said information about the two flights had come to light after a U.S. records search.

Mr. Miliband said both flights landed on the U.K. dependant island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Neither of the two men who were being “rendered” to a third country for interrogation for their alleged involvement in terror activities was British. One had since been released and the other was in Guantanamo Bay.

The U.S. practice of “rendering” alleged terror suspects to third countries where they could be tortured during interrogation had provokedcondemnation.

Despite independent reports that British territory was used by such flights, the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw denied any British role claiming there was no evidence to back these reports.

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