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Extraordinary rendition

Revision as of 03:41, 10 February 2006 by Neoconned (talk | contribs) (update preamble)

Extraordinary rendition is the CIA activity of "transferring" or "flying captured terrorist suspects from one country to another for detention and interrogation" without the benefit of "formal legal proceedings." [1][2]

Contents

"Extraordinary" or "Irregular" Renditions

"Persons suspected of terrorist activity may be transferred from one State (i.e., country) for arrest, detention, and/or interrogation. Commonly, this is done through extradition, by which one State surrenders a person within its jurisdiction to a requesting State via a formal legal process, typically established by treaty. Far less often, such transfers are effectuated through a process known as extraordinary rendition or irregular rendition. These terms have often been used to refer to the extrajudicial transfer of a person from one State to another." --Michael John Garcia, Legislative Attorney, American Law, Library of Congress September 22, 2005.

Air CIA

In a follow-up to Dana Priest's December 27, 2004, Washington Post article on the subject, Michael Hirsh, Mark Hosenball and John Barry related in Newsweek February 8, 2005, that the CIA "ran a secret charter service, shuttling detainees to interrogation facilities worldwide," with suspected terrorists and prospective informants being "snatched" and disappearing, blindfolded, transported, detained, and imprisoned.

The Newsweek reporters cited the case of Khaled el-Masri, "a German citizen of Lebanese descent, [who said] he was taken off a bus in Macedonia in south-central Europe while on holiday on Dec. 31, 2003, then whisked in handcuffs to a motel outside the capital city of Skopje" and subsequently flown to a prison facility in Afghanistan where he was "shackled, repeatedly punched and questioned" by the CIA.

"Together with previously disclosed flight plans of a smaller Gulfstream V jet, the Boeing 737's travels are further evidence that a global 'ghost' prison system, where terror suspects are secretly interrogated, is being operated by the CIA. Several of the Gulfstream flights allegedly correlate with other 'renditions,' the controversial practice of secretly spiriting suspects to other countries without due process. 'The more evidence that comes out, the clearer it is that there's been a stunning failure of accountability,' [said] lawyer John Sifton of Human Rights Watch."
"CIA officials are increasingly fretful about being saddled with this secret prison network at a time of intense pressure from lawyers and human-rights activists. The CIA's anxiety only deepened last week when President Bush named John Negroponte, his ambassador to Iraq, as the country's first director of national intelligence."

Masri was returned, "deposited on a deserted road leading into Macedonia, where he brokenly tried to describe his nightmarish odyssey to a border guard," who laughed at him. Newsweek "obtained previously unpublished flight plans indicating the agency has been operating a Boeing 737 as part of a top-secret global charter servicing clandestine interrogation facilities used in the war on terror. And the Boeing's flight information, detailed to the day, seems to confirm Masri's tale of abduction."

Bush administration statements on "rendition"

Condoleezza Rice

Alberto R. Gonzales

Scott McClellan

Documents & Reports

SourceWatch Resources

External Links

Definitions

2002

2003

2004

2005

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