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Prewar claims 'sourced from rendition detainee' The
practice of "extraordinary rendition" was today again in the spotlight
with claims that the detainee who supplied the Bush administration's pre-war
claims linking al-Qaida to Iraq did so in Egyptian custody. Unnamed US government
officials, quoted in the New York Times, said Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a Libyan,
made his most specific claims after the US handed him over to interrogators from
a third country. Claims from the officials
that Al-Libi later admitted to inventing the allegations in order to avoid harsh
treatment backed up earlier suggestions from Colin Powell's chief of staff at
the time of the war that al-Libi was possibly tortured. Lawrence Wilkerson, Mr
Powell's senior aide, last month told the BBC that new information had suggested
al-Libi's statements "were obtained through interrogation techniques other
than those authorised by the Geneva [conventions]." The Bush administration has
been on defensive in recent weeks over the "enhanced interrogation
techniques" authorised for CIA agents off US soil and "extraordinary
rendition" of detainees. The controversial practice
involves the clandestine transfer of terrorist suspects to third country
facilities where it is possible that torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment banned by international treaties take place. Al-Libi, the New York Times
claims, had been subjected to such rendition when he told his interrogators that
Iraq had trained al-Qaida in the use of chemical and biological weapons. An assessment from the US
Defence Intelligence Agency cast doubt on the claims because of the conditions
of his captivity, according to both Mr Wilkerson and the New York Times's
sources. Mr Wilkerson told the BBC
the assessment was made before Mr Powell made his now discredited claims to the
UN security council on contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, but neither
the then secretary of state or his office were told of it. Before the Iraq war, George
Bush, Dick Cheney and Mr Powell frequently cited Mr Libi's statement as
"credible evidence" that Iraq was training al-Qaida. If correct, the claims
would suggest that rendition and the reliance on third country interrogations
had played a role in the unreliability of intelligence before the March 2003
invasion of Iraq by US-led coalition. The law lords yesterday
ruled that evidence obtained by torture was not admissible in a British court.
The government will now have to demonstrate in cases against terror suspects
that intelligence from overseas agencies meets international standards. The ruling makes clear that
evidence extracted by torture may be used as evidence only against torturers. It
bars evidence obtained from the "extraordinary rendition" of suspects
from British courts. Keir Starmer QC, who led a
team representing 14 human rights organisations which presented arguments to the
court, hailed it as "the leading judgment in the world on torture". Condoleezza Rice, Mr
Powell's successor as US secretary of state, appeared to bow to international
pressure this week when she said on a visit to Ukraine that the US's obligations
under the UN convention on torture extended to "US personnel wherever they
are, whether they are in the US or outside the US." Ms Rice has consistently
said the US neither condones nor practises torture, but she has refused to
confirm or deny the existence of CIA-run secret interrogation centres in eastern
Europe that may be used to hold prisoners of the US. Today, the US admitted for
the first time that the Red Cross had not been given access to all its
detainees. The state department's top
lawyer, John Bellinger, said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
had access to "absolutely everybody" at the US camp in Guantanamo Bay.
But when asked if the ICRC
had access to all detainees held elsewhere in similar circumstances, he said
"No" but declined to give further details. Speaking to reporters in
Geneva, Mr Bellinger reiterated Ms Rice's statement that the US did not practise
torture. "It is incorrect to
suggest that the US is sending people off to places knowing that they will be
tortured. We do not send people off to places knowing that they will be tortured
or turn a blind eye to torture that may occur," he said. The ICRC has demanded
access to all foreign terror suspects held by the US in "undisclosed
locations". "The dialogue
continues on the question. We would like to obtain information and access to
them," said Florian Westphal, a spokesman for the ICRC. |
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