The Nether-World

The Fallout Over Rendition Grows

2007-02-16T19:29:00.000Z

Following the vote in the the EU Parliament which saw the approval of the MEPs report into CIA abductions and renditions, Italy, which came in for heavy criticism (as did Britain), is taking some action.

An Italian judge has ordered 26 US citizens - most of them CIA agents - to stand trial over the kidnap of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.

Osama Mustafa Hassan was allegedly seized by the CIA and flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

Seven Italians were also indicted, including Italy's ex-military intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari.

The case would be the first criminal trial over the secret US practice known as "extraordinary rendition".

Not only will this be the first trial over rendition, it will also be the biggest ever trial of US intelligence agents in an allied country. The trial is due to begin on June 8 and the American suspects are likely to be tried in absentia as they are believed to have fled the country including Robert Seldon Lady, the former station chief of CIA operations in Milan, who has abandoned his Italian villa and says he was over-ruled in his opposition to the Kidnap. He also says (through his lawyer) that he does not recognise the court.

One Italian policeman has already been jailed for 21 months for stopping the cleric in order for the CIA to abduct him. His reduced sentence was part of a plea-bargain. According to him, the CIA said that they were trying to recruit Omar and that the operation had the approval of the US and Italian governments. Nicolo Pollari is trying to hide behind the Italian state secrets act and so is not co-operating with the court apart from insisting that Italian military intelligence did nothing wrong. The Italian government has yet to seek the extradition of the US citizens and it will be interesting to see if it does and what reaction it will get from the US authorities who, as we know, are always keen to uphold the rule of law. Somehow I doubt it will happen. Osama Mustafa Hassan however, despite risking prosecution for terrorism charges, wants to return to Italy as a refugee and testify against Berlusconi and his administration. He was released from Egyptian custody when the authorities there decided they had no reason to hold him.

What is interesting about this case is that it looks like being the first of many prosecutions around Europe. Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Romania are all conducting investigations. Unsurprisingly, the UK is not conducting any investigation, but then Tony Blair has yet to acknowledge that there is any such thing as extraordinary rendition.

Tags: Extraordinary Rendition, Terrorism, Torture, Italian Politics, EU

Britain Accused Of Collusion With CIA In Draft European Parliament Report On Torture Flights

2006-11-29T04:52:00.000Z

If Tony Blair thought the issue of Extraordinary Rendition was going away, he must be pretty disappointed. The draft report on extraordinary rendition following the investigation by MEPs has shown that Britain has allowed 170 secret CIA torture flights, second only to Germany's whopping 336 flights out of at least 1,245 flights in European territory. Ten countries are accused of allowing stopovers. They are:

Germany 336
Britain 170
Ireland 147
Portugal 91
Spain 68
Greece 64
Cyprus 57
Italy 46
Romania 21
Poland 11

The report condemns many EU nations saying that they were aware renditions were taking place and failed to co-operate with the investigation. I reported earlier on Geoff Hoon's unhelpful and evasive behaviour during the investigation.

Giovanni Claudio Fava’s draft report “deplores” the level of co-operation Geoff Hoon, the Europe Minister, gave the MEPs, and condemns the rendition of one British citizen and three British residents, two of whom were said to have been seized on the basis of “partly erroneous information supplied by the UK security service MI5”.
Source

There are now likely to be more demands for a full parliamentary inquiry into the practice of extraordinary rendition by MPs following this draft report which shows that there were far more rendition flights than have previously been admitted by the Government.

Poland has come in for particular criticism because there is good circumstantial evidence that one of the 'Black sites' that President Bush has acknowledged exist is located in the Polish intelligence training centre at Stare Kiejkuty. Romania too has been similarly accused. Both countries have declined to make any further statements after their denials last Summer. The Bush administration, despite admitting the existence of 'black sites' and the reality of extraordinary rendition, continues to deny that it authorises and participates in torture. The evidence supplied by Khaled el-Masri and others makes a mockery of those denials. Blair's government too has now been shown to have at least been complicit in torture.

Tags: Rendition, Torture, Blair, CIA, Black Sites, Europe

EU Justice Commissioner urges action on torture flights

2006-06-28T00:52:00.000+01:00

This is a slightly edited version of a piece I originally posted on Blairwatch earlier. I’m reproducing it here so I don’t have to write the same story twice.

Following the damning Council of Europe (CoE) report published earlier this month which revealed a global ‘spider’s web’ of routes used by CIA aircraft, and which accused 14 European countries including Britain of colluding with the CIA, the EU justice commissioner, Franco Frattini has called on national prosecutors and judges to investigate their governments' alleged involvement in secret CIA prisons and rendition flights at a Council of Europe debate to which he was invited and which passed a resolution calling for.

In-depth inquiries at a national level

A review of the legal framework regulating the intelligence services

A review of agreements with the US on the use of military infrastructure to ensure they comply with human rights norms

Efforts to develop "a truly global strategy" against terrorism, with the US

Tuesday’s resolution, which member states are obliged to respond to, was passed by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe and approves the findings of the inquiry launched last November led by Swiss senator Dick Marty.

Mr Frattini urged EU members to take action "whatever the truth that emerges."He added "It is essential that the states concerned clarify the situation in their own countries in the light of the initial findings of the investigations carried out at European level." He indicated that while Mr Marty's report "stated facts," it is "not possible now to draw legal judgements."

However, if a court in any of the EU member states involved made a ruling proving a grave violation of the European Convention on Human Rights by its authorities, it could lead to "negative, and even dramatic consequences" for the country at EU level, Mr Frattini noted.He was referring to Article 7 of the EU treaty which states that the bloc can trigger a set of legal consequences for a state which is deemed to be in a "serious and persistent breach" of human rights, as stated by the convention.Under the worst-case scenario, the EU can suspend some of the culprit member state's rights, including voting rights.
Source

So far, most of the countries accused (including Britain) have denied any wrongdoing. Tony Blair, apparently following the advice given to him in a leaked memo written last December by the Foreign Office, has continuously refused to talk about Britain’s collusion with the CIA. According to the memo:

"The British government should avoid getting drawn on detail," the memo says. "We now cannot say that we have received no such request for the use of UK territory or airspace for the purpose of extraordinary rendition.

"It does remain true that we are not aware of the use of UK territory or airspace for the purposes of extraordinary rendition.

"But we think we should now try to move the debate on from the specifics of rendition -- extraordinary or otherwise -- and focus people instead on (U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice's clear assurance that U.S. activities are consistent with their domestic and international obligations and never include the use of torture."
Source

This might explain Blair’s response to questions asked of him in Parliament after the release of the CoE report.

We have said absolutely all we have to say on this. There is nothing more to add to it, and I have to say, the Council of Europe report, adds absolutely nothing new whatever to the information we have.
Source

It will be interesting to see if Blair maintains this position if the EU does carry out its threat to suspend the voting rights of member states that refuse to co-operate with the on-going investigation. The issue is due to be debated next month in the EU Parliament and the majority of MEPs have already expressed support for the CoE report. The CoE cannot by itself launch legal proceedings, all it can do is ‘name and shame’ certain states, which is why the support of the EU justice commissioner is an important development. Terry Davis, the CoE Secretary General said:

"People should not be allowed to disappear into thin air, regardless of the crimes of which they accused… If we want to be safe we must be fair. The only effective measures against terrorism are those which stop more terrorists than they help to recruit."
Source

Washington has dismissed the report as hearsay and denied any involvement with torture, but human rights groups have welcomed the CoE resolution and reiterated the illegality of extraordinary rendition.

In a joint statement, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and the Association for the Prevention of Torture said it was "unacceptable and unlawful" for European states to participate in what often amounted to international crimes.

European states had to ensure that counter-terrorism measures did not lead to further human rights violations on their territory and that no one was handed over to face violations of their rights elsewhere, the groups said.

"Many of these cases amount to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law," they said.
Source

The issue of European collusion with extraordinary rendition and secret CIA prisons is not going away no matter how much Blair wishes it would.

Lady Ludford, a Liberal Democrat MEP, said Mr Marty had "uncovered evidence going way beyond speculation of a pattern of human rights abuses through kidnappings, unlawful imprisonment, disappearances, maltreatment and torture".

She said: "European governments can no longer get away with scoffing at the allegations or fobbing us off ... The UK government must accept that, with their denials of complicity in extraordinary rendition wearing ever thinner, the case is pressing for a formal inquiry into whether MI5 tipoffs led to British citizens being incarcerated in Guantánamo and whether CIA planes have rendered people to torture through British airports."
Source

I expect there will soon be a few more awkward questions asked in Parliament that Blair will have to evade.

*UPDATE*
The Devil's Kitchen has pointed out to me in the comments that the EU knew about and approved these flights, something I was unaware of although, unfortunately, I can't say I'm that surprised.

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.
Source

For me, this highlights more than ever the need for a thorough investigation to dig out the hypocrisy both here in Britain, in other EU member states and also in the EU itself. It should be pointed out that the Council of Europe is a seperate entity to the EU and its main task is to act as a human rights watchdog. Hopefully the investigation being continued by Dick Marty and followed up be other EU member states will expose any lies and cover-ups in the EU and hold the organisation to the values it continuously espouses.

Tags: Torture, Extraordinary Rendition

European collusion with CIA ‘extraordinary rendition’ and ‘black sites’

2006-06-07T04:59:00.000+01:00

Click on image for larger view

The Council of Europe’s (CEO) legal affairs and human rights committee has produced a report on Europe’s involvement in ‘extraordinary rendition’ and ‘black sites’ following an investigation launched last November by its chairman, Dick Marty. The report is damning and shows that 14 European countries including the UK have been colluding with the CIA, from abducting people to providing logistics or just turning a blind eye. He describes the rendition circuit as a "spider's web spun across the globe".

The UK stands accused of not only allowing the use of British airspace and airports, but of providing information that was used during the torture of one suspect. The report adds that there is strong evidence to suspect two European states, Poland and Romania, of permitting the CIA to operate secret prisons on their soil, despite official denials.
Source

This is a breakdown of the collusion of the European countries:

Countries which provided staging posts for rendition operations:
Spain
Turkey
Germany
Cyprus

Countries which allowed the rendition of their residents from their soil:
Italy
Sweden
Bosnia
Macedonia

Countries which provided stopovers for CIA planes:
Britain
Ireland
Portugal
Greece

Countries suspected of having allowed the operation of secret CIA detention centres:
Romania
Poland

Speaking of America’s “new legal concepts” which have left terrorist suspects without their fundamental legal rights, Mr Marty said:

"This legal approach is utterly alien to the European tradition and sensibility, and is clearly contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

This is a damning indictment of both Europe and the USA and directly contradicts the numerous protestations by members of the British Government including Tony Blair that they knew nothing about these CIA activities. Blairwatch has much more on these false denials of any knowledge of British collusion.

*UPDATE*

The full report can be seen here (via the Curious Hamster who has a very good post on this issue). You can also see Tony Blair do his best to evade questions on rendition at PMQs here.
Also, via the comments, Reykjavik Transit has more. It's well worth reading the whole site. Thanks Gary.

Tags: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture, Blair

Someone tell Silvio its over

2006-04-11T18:05:00.000+01:00

Romano Prodi has won the Italian election (phew!). The Centre-Left coalition headed by Signor Prodi, won 4 of the 6 seats in the Senate reserved for the Italian expats. This gives the Centre-Left a slim majority in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Silvio Berlusconi still has not conceded defeat and wants the votes checked again, but the general consensus is that Prodi will be the next Italian Prime Minister. And what a pleasant twist that it was the Italians abroad that dealt the death blow to Berlusconi's hopes of remaining in office.

While Berlusconi might well be finished, the saga is not over yet, but I can breathe a sigh of relief, for the moment anyway. The next task is to get rid of Blair.

Tags: Italy

The Italian People have spoken (sort of)

2006-04-11T16:08:00.000+01:00

To misuse an old Bill Clinton quote (which I can’t find), The Italian people have spoken; now we just have to figure out what they said.

After a nerve-wracking night following the election in Italy, we are still not much closer to finding out who actually won. At first Signor Prodi seemed to have a clear (if small) lead. Then reports started coming in that the gap was closing and Berlusconi might cling on to power. Finally, at about 3am local time, Romano Prodi unexpectedly announced that he had won the election. This later turned out to be only partly true; he had won in the Chamber of Deputies by a 10th of one percent (49.8% - 49.7%). The Senate, however was (and perhaps still is) undecided). By the time I went to bed, Berlusconi was hanging on to the Senate by one seat. This morning it transpired that the so far uncounted expat vote might possibly have swung the tide back to Signor Prodi (a bit of an irony as Berlusconi had changed the electoral rules to allow expats to vote from abroad thinking it would be advantageous to him).

So this morning Romano Prodi felt confident enough to announce once again that he had won and was waiting for Signor Berlusconi to phone him conceding defeat, something that he has so far failed to do. Instead Berlusconi is demanding a partial recount of the votes. If this is reminding you of the 2000 American election, you are not alone. Even once the election is decided (providing another one doesn’t have to be called), the new government cannot be formed until the Presidential election in May is over. Unfortunately the uncertainty looks set to continue a while yet.

Tags: Italy

Bye Bye Berlusconi (hopefully)

2006-04-10T17:30:00.000+01:00

Early exit polls seem to be indicating that Romano Prodi, the Centre-Left candidate in the Italian election, has narrowly won both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. If this is true then it is good news for Italy and for Europe. The economic miracle that Silvio Berlusconi promised the Italian electorate 5 years ago turned into an economic disaster for the country.

But there is a decisive factor. Mr Berlusconi has not only neglected Italy's economy, but he has warped its politics. He controls 90 per cent of broadcast media, a grotesque conflict of interest. He has diminished public life, deploying personal slurs instead of policy debate. He embodies a culture of corruption that devalues democracy in Italy and, by extension, the rest of the EU, which has been forced to do business with him.

There are no quick cures for Italy's sickness, but purging Silvio Berlusconi from the body politic would signal the start of recovery.

Source

However, the vote was a referendum against Berlusconi rather than a ringing endorsement of Romano Prodi, and if Prodi has won then he is going to have his work cut out trying to turn things around. Hopefully, at least the corruption and buffoonery will cease. Losing the election will just be the start of Berlusconi’s problems, in June he will be up before magistrates on corruption charges with David Mills, the husband of British Culture, Media & Sport Secretary Tessa Jowell, and if he is out of office then much of his immunity and protection will be gone.

Tony Blair will not be welcoming the news of Berlusconi’s defeat either. The two Prime Ministers are close personal as well as political friends and its no coincidence that democracy has been eroded in both Italy and Britain.

It is an open secret that the British Government thought Mr Prodi a lacklustre and wooden European Commission president, one who ducked the challenge of reforming during his term of office. Tony Blair and Mr Prodi are not close.

In contrast, Mr Blair has a genuine friendship with Mr Berlusconi, down to their shared holidays in Italy.

Source

President Bush too will have lost a staunch ally who supported his illegal war in Iraq and contributed troops to the occupation despite the objection of the majority of Italians. Hopefully those troops will now be removed, although there is no guarantee of this.

Tags: Italy

The Italian Election

2006-04-09T10:46:00.000+01:00

I was thinking that I should write something about the Italian election, as it has been nagging at the back of my mind for the the last few weeks. It is a hard thing to write about because it is such a complicated system, however after a quick scoot around the net, I discovered that Nosemonkey over at Europhobia said most of the things I wanted to say and found some pretty good links too, particularly Tobias Jones in the Guardian. Tobias Jones once wrote a book called 'The Dark Heart of Italy' which I'd reccomend to anyone trying to understand Italian politics generally and Berlusconi in particular. To get an idea of what a strange thing the Italian election is, read his article in full. This is just an antipasti:

When voters enter the ballot box tomorrow they can look back on one of the most entertaining spettacoli of recent times: Silvio Berlusconi set the tone by surprising voters with the promise to give up sex for the entirety of the campaign; his minister for health resigned after he was accused of hiring private investigators to spy on political rivals; a showgirl, Mara Carfagna, decided to run as a candidate in Campania; tens of thousands of people have paraded through piazzas with sandwich-boards saying "I'm a pillock" (don't ask); the owners of Milan and Fiorentina football teams had a public slanging match; Berlusconi said communists used to boil babies; the Chinese embassy protested that no, they've never boiled bambini. It's been a fun few weeks.

Add to all this the much publicised comparisons Berlusconi makes between himself and: Jesus, Moses, Napoleon and Churchill, and you have a farce of roughly the same proportions as Berlusconi's over inflated ego. Anyone else behaving like this would be in a padded cell.

The thing that I don't understand (apart from the ridiculously complicated voting system) is why all the polls say the election is so close. Who are all these people who still think Silvio will actually do anything for them? Most Italians were against the war in Iraq, the economy is now a complete shambles. Because of Mr Berlusconi's behaviour, Italy has become a laughing stock in Europe: links to the mafia, corruption scandals (Tessa Jowell & David Mills), changing the laws to make himself immune from prosecution, bribing judges, Insulting an MEP politician by comparing him to a Nazi concentration camp guard, and generally being a disgusting, idiotic lout.

So I ferverently hope that Italians will come out and vote this buffoon out. After all, its better to be coglioni than rompi coglioni (ball breaker).

One good thing about this election (apart from saying good ridance to Silvio Berlusconi) is that Italian citizens abroad (like me) can vote him out without having to fly over to Italy (much as I would have liked a quick trip to Italy for the weekend). The Italian consulate sent all the papers to me and I voted from London. Good eh?

Tags: Italy