Serious Concerns Raised Over U.S. Rendition Flights

By George Thompson

A draft European Parliament report by a special committee set up to investigate alleged CIA rendition flights through European airports, has expressed 'serious concerns' over the 147 stopovers made by CIA-operated aircraft at Irish airports. The report suggests these aircraft were for the most part, coming from, or en route to, countries linked with so-called 'extraordinary rendition' while it also claims that CIA linked aircraft which had stopped off in Ireland had 'certainly been used for the extraordinary renditions' of nine named individuals. One of the suspect flights, involving a plane known as the "Guantanamo Express", is alleged to have stopped off at Shannon to refuel after taking part in the rendition of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar, who has been detained without trial in Egypt and subjected to torture.

Last Thursday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern addressed the European Parliament's inquiry into rendition saying - no US planes would be welcome in Ireland if they had previously been involved in the secret transfer of prisoners. Mr. Ahern told the committee that, every month there were upward of 1,750 movements of private aircraft through Irish airports, admitting that current aviation rules meant it was virtually impossible to police European airports.

He said, "In the context of cross-border terrorism that we have now, I am amazed that so little information is available [on flights]," - calling for the amendment of the 1944 Chicago Convention that governs international air travel. Under the Chicago Convention the information available on flights is limited to the last stop on a particular flightpath just hours before they enter European airspace. This meant it was virtually impossible for EU authorities to know what was transited in an out of their airports, said Mr Ahern, who insisted that he accepted the assurances provided by the US that no rendition flights had stopped off at Irish airports.

In a tempered exchange with Italian socialist MEP Claudio Fava who had drawn up the parliamentary committee's report, Mr Ahern accused him of exaggerating the number of CIA flights that had used Shannon airport while making unsubstantiated and ambiguous allegations about Ireland's role in CIA renditions.

He said the figure of 147 flights was extremely questionable. If there were any questions about flights through Ireland it was at most three flights, said Mr. Ahern, who also voiced his anger at the publication of the report before he attended the committee hearing. Mr. Fava noted that Ireland recorded the third highest number of CIA flight stopovers after Britain and Germany.