Global Secret and Intelligence Services I E-Book

Heinz Duthel

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 589

Beschreibung

Global Secret and Intelligence Services I Hidden Systems that deliver Unforgettable Customer Service First Edition 2006 Second Edition 2009 Third Edition 2014 Updated: UUTYG/TT5443 An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to the information gathering (known in the context as "intelligence") for purposes of national security and defense. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public sources. The assembly and propagation of this information is known as intelligence analysis. Note: Because of some special contents of this publication, some pages are in French and Italien

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Are human rights little more than a fair weather option?

1.1. 11 September 2001

1.2. Guantanamo Bay

1.3. Secret CIA prisons in Europe?

1.4. The Council of Europe's response

1.5. European Parliament

1.6. Rapporteur or investigator?

1.7. Is this an Anti-American exercise?

1.8. Is there any evidence?

2. The global “spider’s web”18

2.1. The evolution of the rendition programme

2.2. Components of the spider's web

2.3. Compiling a database of aircraft movements

2.4. Operations of the spider's web

2.5. Successive rendition operations and secret detentions

2.6. Detention facilities in Romania and Poland

2.6.1 The case of Romania

2.6.2. The case of Poland

2.7. The human impact of rendition and secret detention

2.7.1. CIA methodology - how a detainee is treated during a rendition

2.7.2. The effects of rendition and secret detention on individuals and families

3. Specific examples of documented renditions

3.1. Khaled El-Masri

3.1.1. The individual account of Mr. El-Masri

3.1.2. Elements of corroboration for Mr. El-Masri's account

3.1.3. The role of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"

3.1.3.1. The position of the authorities

3.1.3.2. Further elements

3.2. "The Algerian Six"

3.3. Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed Alzery (El Zari)

3.4. Abu Omar

3.5. Bisher Al-Rawi and Jamil El-Banna

3.6. Maher Arar

3.7. Muhammad Bashmila and Salah Ali Qaru

3.8. Mohammed Zammar

3.9. Binyam Mohamed al Habashi

4. Secret places of detention

4.1. Satellite photographs

4.2. Documented aircraft movements

4.3. Witnesses' accounts

4.4. Evaluation

5. Secret detentions in the Chechen Republic

5.1. The work of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)

5.2. Damning recent accounts by witnesses

6. Attitude of governments

7. Individual cases: judicial proceedings in progress

7.1. A positive example: the Milan public prosecutor's office (Abu Omar case)

7.2. A matter requiring further attention: the Munich (El-Masri case) and Zweibrücken (Abu Omar case) public prosecutors' offices

7.3. Another matter requiring further attention: the Al Rawi and El Banna case

7.4. Sweden: what next in the Agiza and Alzery case?

7.5. Spain

7.6. Mr El-Masri's complaint in the United States

8. Parliamentary investigations

8.1. Germany

8.2 The United Kingdom

8.3. Poland: a parliamentary inquiry, carried out in secret

8.4. Romania and "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia": no parliamentary inquiry

9. Commitment to combating terrorism

9.1. Fight against terrorism: an absolute necessity

9.2. The strength of unity and of the law

10. Legal perspectives

10.1. The point of view of the United States

10.2. The point of view of the Council of Europe

10.2.1. The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)

10.2.2 The Secretary General of the Council of Europe (Article 52 ECHR)

11. Conclusion

For my children

An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to the information gathering (known in the context as "intelligence") for purposes of national security and defense. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public sources. The assembly and propagation of this information is known as intelligence analysis.

Intelligence agencies can provide the following services for their national governments.

* provide analysis in areas relevant to national security;

* give early warning of impending crises;

* serve national and international crisis management by helping to discern the intentions of current or potential opponents;

* inform national defense planning and military operations;

* protect secrets, both of their own sources and activities, and those of other state agencies; and

* may act covertly to influence the outcome of events in favor of national interests

Intelligence agencies are also involved in defensive activities such as counter-espionage or counterterrorism.

Some agencies are accused of being involved in assassination, arms sales, coups d'état, and the placement of misinformation (propaganda) as well as other covert operations, in order to support their own or their governments' interests.

Intelligence agencies

The following is a partial list of current intelligence agencies.

Contents

Secret CIA prisons in Europe?

* 1 Agencies by country

- 1.1 Albania

- 1.2 Argentina

- 1.3 Australia

- 1.4 Austria

- 1.5 Azerbaijan

- 1.6 Belarus

- 1.7 Belgium

- 1.8 Bermuda

- 1.9 Bosnia and Herzegovina

- 1.10 Brazil

- 1.11 Bulgaria

- 1.12 Canada

- 1.13 China, People's Republic of

- 1.14 China, Republic of

- 1.15 Colombia

- 1.16 Croatia

- 1.17 Cuba

- 1.18 Czech Republic

- 1.19 Denmark

- 1.20 Dominican Republic

- 1.21 Egypt

- 1.22 Estonia

- 1.23 Finland

- 1.24 France

- 1.25 Germany

- 1.26 Greece

- 1.27 Hungary

- 1.28 India

- 1.29 Indonesia

- 1.30 Iran

- 1.31 Iraq

- 1.32 Ireland, Republic of

- 1.33 Israel

- 1.34 Italy

- 1.35 Japan

- 1.36 Jordan

- 1.37 South Korea

- 1.38 Libya

- 1.39 Luxembourg

- 1.40 Republic of Macedonia

- 1.41 Malaysia

- 1.42 Maldives

- 1.43 Man, Isle of

- 1.44 Mexico

- 1.45 Moldova

- 1.46 Morocco

- 1.47 Netherlands

- 1.48 New Zealand

- 1.49 Nigeria

- 1.50 Norway

- 1.51 Pakistan

- 1.52 Philippines

- 1.53 Poland

- 1.54 Portugal

- 1.55 Romania

- 1.56 Russian Federation

- 1.57 Saudi Arabia

- 1.58 Serbia

- 1.59 Singapore

- 1.60 Slovakia

- 1.61 Slovenia

- 1.62 South Africa

- 1.63 Spain

- 1.64 Sweden

- 1.65 Switzerland

- 1.66 Syria

- 1.67 Taiwan

- 1.68 Thailand

- 1.69 Turkey

- 1.70 Turkmenistan

- 1.71 Ukraine

- 1.72 United Kingdom

- 1.73 United States

- 1.74 Venezuela

- 1.75 Vietnam

- 1.76 Zimbabwe

In state of a preface to this present publication, Secret Service Secrets:

Restricted

AS/Jur (2006) 16 Part II

7 June 2006

Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights

Draft report - Part II (Explanatory memorandum)

Rapporteur: Mr Dick Marty, Switzerland, ALDE

C. Explanatory memorandum

by Mr Dick Marty, Rapporteur

1. Are human rights little more than a fair weather option?

1.1. 11 September 2001

1. The tragedies that took place on 11 September undoubtedly marked the beginning of an important new chapter in the terrible, never-ending history of terrorism. It is a history of indiscriminate violence, instigated in order to create a climate of insecurity and fear with the intention of attacking the existing political and social system. For the first time, spectacular and extremely lethal acts struck highly symbolic targets at the very heart of the United States of America, the most powerful state in the world. Europe, for its part, already has a long and painful experience of terrorism, involving numerous victims and large-scale attacks, particularly in Italy, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, France and, more recently, Russia.

2. While the states of the Old World have dealt with these threats primarily by means of existing institutions and legal systems, the United States appears to have made a fundamentally different choice: considering that neither conventional judicial instruments nor those established under the framework of the laws of war could effectively counter the new forms of international terrorism, it decided to develop new legal concepts. The latter are based primarily on the Military Order on the Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War against Terrorism signed by President Bush on 13 November 2003. It is significant that, to date, only one person has been summoned before the courts to answer for the 11 September attacks: a person, moreover, who was already in prison on that day, and had been in the hands of the justice system for several months. By contrast, hundreds of other people are still deprived of their liberty, under American authority but outside the national territory, within an unclear normative framework. Their detention is, in any event, altogether contrary to the principles enshrined in all the international legal instruments dealing with respect for fundamental rights, including the domestic law of the United States (which explains the existence of such detention centres outside the country). The following headline appears to be an accurate summary of the current administration's approach: No Trials for Key Players: Government prefers to interrogate bigger fish in terrorism cases rather than charge them..

3. 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. Cicero's old adage, inter arma silent leges, appears to have left its mark even on international bodies supposed to ensure the rule of law and the fair administration of justice. It is frankly alarming to see the UN Security Council sacrificing essential principles pertaining to fundamental rights in the name of the fight against terrorism. The compilation of so-called “black lists” of individuals and companies suspected of maintaining connections with organisations considered terrorist and the application of the associated sanctions clearly breach every principle of the fundamental right to a fair trial: no specific charges, no right to be heard, no right of appeal, no established procedure for removing one's name from the list6.

1.2. Guantanamo Bay

4. At Guantanamo Bay, on the island of Cuba, several hundred people are being detained without enjoying any of the guarantees provided for in the criminal procedure of a state governed by the rule of law or in the Geneva Conventions on the law of war. These people have been arrested in unknown circumstances, handed over by foreign authorities without any extradition procedure being followed or illegally abducted in various countries by United States special services. They are considered enemy combatants, according to a new definition introduced by the American administration.

5. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has strongly criticised this state of affairs: on 26 April 2005, with no votes against and just five abstentions, it adopted a resolution (1433/2005) and recommendation (1699/2005) in which it urges the United States Government to put a stop to this situation and to ensure respect for the principles of the rule of law and human rights. It also concludes that the United States has engaged in the unlawful practice of secret detention. In its reply of 17 June 2005 (doc. 10585), the Committee of Ministers expresses its full support to all such efforts and to all efforts to obtain a prompt release or fair trial of persons detained at Guantánamo Bay by an independent and impartial court. It urges the United States Government to ensure that the rights of all detainees are ensured and that the principle of the rule of law is fully respected. For its own part, it expresses the determination of the member states to ensure that the rights of persons released and returned to their jurisdiction are fully respected. The Committee of Ministers has conveyed a message in these terms to the Government of the United States of America8. To our knowledge, no reply has been received to date.

6. The UN Committee against Torture has also called for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in recent times, criticising its secret character and the denial of access to the ICRC9.

1.3. Secret CIA prisons in Europe?

7. This was the news item circulated in early November 2005 by the American NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Washington Post and the ABC television channel. Whereas the Washington Post did not name specific countries hosting, or having allegedly hosted, such detention centres, simply referring generically to 'eastern European democracies', HRW reported that the countries in question are Poland and Romania. On 5 December 2005, ABC News in turn reported the existence of secret detention centres in Poland and Romania, which had apparently been closed following the Washington Post's revelations. According to ABC, 11 suspects detained in these centres had been subjected to the harshest interrogation techniques (so-called 'enhanced interrogation techniques') before being transferred to CIA facilities in North Africa.

8. It is interesting to recall that this ABC report, confirming the use of secret detention camps in Poland and Romania by the CIA, was available on the Internet for only a very short time before being withdrawn following the intervention of lawyers on behalf of the network's owners. The Washington Post subsequently admitted that it had been in possession of the names of the countries, but had refrained from naming them further to an agreement entered into with the authorities. It is thus established that considerable pressure was brought to bear to ensure that these countries were not named. It is unclear what arguments prevailed on the media outlets in question to convince them to comply. What is certain is that these are troubling developments that throw into question the principles of freedom and independence of the press. In this light, it is worth noting that just before the publication of the original revelations by the reporter Dana Priest in early November 2005, the Executive Editor of the Washington Post was invited for an audience at the White House with President Bush10.

1.4. The Council of Europe's response

9. The Council of Europe responded straight away. The President of the PACE immediately took a very firm position, and asked the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to look into the matter without delay. The latter did so at its meeting of 7 November 2005. The Secretary General of the Council, for his part, set in motion the procedure established by Article 52 of the ECHR. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights also requested the Venice Commission to prepare an opinion on the international legal obligations and duties of Council of Europe member states in respect of secret detention facilities and interstate transport of prisoners. Cooperation was likewise established with the Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner.

10. The European Union Commission, via its Vice-President Franco Frattini, expressed its full support for the Council of Europe. The EU Commission's support proved invaluable in obtaining the necessary information from Eurocontrol and the European Union Satellite Centre. The reference to named European countries suddenly aroused huge media interest. Yet these incidents - secret detentions and renditions - had already been attracting condemnation for some time, both from the PACE itself, inter alia through the aforementioned resolution and recommendation concerning Guantanamo Bay, the re-reading of which I cannot recommend highly enough, and in extremely detailed reports by NGOs, university professors and journalists known for their very painstaking work11. These revelations had met with curious indifference from both the media and governments and political circles in general.

1.5. European Parliament

11. Members of the European Parliament also became alarmed at the mounting evidence that European countries, or at least facilities located on European territory, had been the scene of systematic human rights violations. In early 2006, a 46-member Temporary Committee was set up and instructed to investigate the alleged existence of CIA prisons in Europe in which terrorist suspects had allegedly been detained and tortured12.

12. I welcomed this initiative in my previous memorandum, considering it wholly consistent with the Council of Europe's desire to ascertain the truth. Cooperation with the Temporary Committee has been extremely satisfactory, both at the level of our respective secretariats and with its Chairman, Carlos Miguel Coelho, and Rapporteur, Claudio Fava. I had the opportunity to address members of the European Parliament's committee during one of its first public hearings.

13. On 24 April 2006 the Temporary Committee presented its draft interim report, which confirmed strong indications of illegal actions carried out by the CIA in Europe. Its in initial analysis, the report largely supported the observations we made in our own Information Memorandum II on 24 January 2006. The TDIP Rapporteur Claudio Fava, in presenting his interim report, spoke of “more than a thousand flights chartered by the CIA [that] have transited through Europe, often in order to carry out extraordinary renditions”13. In a press conference, Mr Fava clarified that, according to information given to him in confidence by an intelligence source, “30 to 50 people have been rendered by the CIA in Europe” and that “the CIA could not have carried out such renditions without the agreement of European states”14. The Temporary Committee proposes to continue its work15.

1.6. Rapporteur or investigator?

14. I have often been described as an investigator, or even a special investigator. It might be helpful to point out, therefore, that I do not enjoy any specific investigatory powers and, in particular, am not entitled to use coercive methods or to require the release of specific documents. My work has consequently consisted primarily of interviews and analysis. I submitted a set of questions to governments via their national parliamentary delegations, and asked the latter to take the debate to the national level. Parliamentary questions were thereby tabled in many states with a view to obtaining information from the various governments. Special parliamentary commissions of inquiry were set up in some countries. The work undertaken by a number of NGOs has proved invaluable and even, in many cases, more detailed and reliable than the information supplied by governments. A significant contribution was also made by many journalists investigating on the ground, often for months on end. I also received information entrusted to me only on the assurance that I would keep it confidential and protect my sources. The information thus received clearly cannot be presented as evidence; it did, however, point my research in certain more specific directions, and enables me to state with certainty that the search for the truth about what really happened to terrorist suspects in Europe will not end with the present report.

15. I received considerable assistance in this task from the head of the secretariat of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and one of his colleagues -both of whom were already very busy with other tasks connected with the committee's operation and work with other Rapporteur's - as well as from another young colleague who, in the end, was temporarily assigned specifically to this investigation (and whose help proved invaluable). I am extremely grateful to them for their outstanding competence and exceptional readiness to assist.

16. I was formally designated as Rapporteur on 13 December 2005. Within the Council of Europe it was considered that the report should be presented as quickly as possible. Taking into account the breadth and complexity of the subject, as well as the extremely modest means put at my disposal, I have certainly not been able to present a complete overview of the different aspects of what has really occurred. Moreover, we are still far from knowing all the details of “extraordinary renditions” and the conditions in which abducted persons have been detained and interrogated in Europe. It is thus highly likely that the Council of Europe should remain seized with this subject matter. Elements presently in the public domain - which are supplemented with new information as every week goes by - not only justify, but require that member States finally decide to open serious inquiries on the extent to which they were directly or indirectly implicated in such activities.

17. As I stated in my previous memorandum, serious consideration must be given to whether the Assembly should equip itself with other resources for dealing with such complex matters. Where investigations relate to possible human rights violations that are not confined to individual cases (for which the European Court of Human Rights has jurisdiction) and transcend borders, thereby sidestepping national procedures, one is justified in questioning the effectiveness of existing instruments. Instead of appointing a single member as Rapporteur with the support of the normal resources of the Committee's secretariat, which is already overwhelmed by other reports in preparation, we might seriously consider whether setting up a proper commission of inquiry, assisted by experts and enjoying genuine investigatory powers, might not be a better solution for dealing with these new and important challenges.

18. We have tackled this problem with determination and a constant concern for objectivity, mindful of both the enormity of the task entrusted to me and the frankly derisory resources available and the risk of being manipulated. My aim was by no means to amass evidence for the purpose of condemning or stigmatising. On the contrary, I was guided by a desire to ascertain the truth in order to reaffirm the values the Council of Europe has always striven to uphold, and to guard against the repetition of such incidents.

1.7. Is this an Anti-American exercise?

19. I consider this reproach, made fairly frequently when criticisms are voiced about violations of fundamental rights committed in the context of the fight against terrorism, downright ridiculous and wholly inaccurate. It overlooks the fact that the initial criticisms, relating to the establishment of the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay as well as the use of extraordinary renditions and torture, were first forcefully expressed by American journalists, NGOs and politicians, often thanks to detailed information released by sources within the administration, and indeed the intelligence services themselves. The debate has been, and in my view still is, considerably more heated in the United States than in Europe, at least in certain circles and media.

20. Moreover, the United States Supreme Court itself pointed out, in an extraordinary June 2004 judgment, that at stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society. (…) For if this Nation is to remain true to the ideals symbolized by its flag, it must not wield the tools of tyrants even to resist an assault by the forces of tyranny16. This is a sharp reminder of the great democratic tradition of the United States and its exemplary commitment to human rights. The United States is, and remains, a deeply democratic country. Indeed, criticisms of some of the current administration's decisions also reflect a concern that a country which unquestionably serves as an example to the rest of the world is committing what we consider to be mistakes that not only violate fundamental principles, but also constitute a counterproductive antiterrorism strategy.

1.8. Is there any evidence?

21. It is paradoxical to expect bodies without any real investigatory powers - the Council of Europe and the European Parliament - to adduce evidence in the legal sense. Indeed, these European bodies have been prompted to undertake such investigations owing to a lack of willingness and commitment on the part of national institutions that could, and should, have completely clarified these allegations which from the outset did not appear to be totally unfounded.

22. There is no formal evidence at this stage of the existence of secret CIA detention centres in Poland, Romania or other Council of Europe member states, even though serious indications continue to exist and grow stronger. Nevertheless, it is clear that an unspecified number of persons, deemed to be members or accomplices of terrorist movements, were arbitrarily and unlawfully arrested and/or detained and transported under the supervision of services acting in the name, or on behalf, of the American authorities. These incidents took place in airports and in European airspace, and were made possible either by seriously negligent monitoring or by the more or less active participation of one or more government departments of Council of Europe member states.

23. In the light of the silence and obvious reluctance on the part of the bodies that could have provided the necessary information, it is legitimate to assume that there are more such cases than can be proven at present. In effect, the facts as would appear to be established today - and as will be illustrated throughout the report - as well as the total absence of serious inquiries by the national authorities concerned, implies, in my view, the reversal of the burden of proof: in such a situation it is incumbent on the Polish and Romanian authorities to conduct an independent and in-depth inquiry and to make public not only its results but also the method and the different stages of the enquiry17.

Even if proof, in the classical meaning of the term, is not as yet available, a number of coherent and converging elements indicate that such secret detention centres did indeed exist in Europe. Such an affirmation does not pretend to be a judgment of a criminal court, necessitating “proof beyond reasonable doubt” in the Anglo-Saxon meaning of the term; it rather reflects a conviction based on a careful balance of probabilities, as well as logical deductions from clearly established facts. The intention is not to determine that the authorities of these countries are “guilty” for having tolerated secret detention sites, but rather to hold them "responsible" for failing to comply with the positive obligation to investigate serious allegations.

1 More than 14 500 politically motivated acts of violence were recorded in Italy between 1969 and 1987, causing 419 deaths and 1181 casualties (Interior Ministry figures).

2 We may recall the words of the former President of Italy; Sandro Pertin (albeit translated in paraphrased form): “Italy can proudly say that it has defeated terrorism in the law courts, rather than resorting to “stadium” justice”.

3 Regarding the various decisions taken by the American administration following the 11 September attacks, I refer readers to the excellent report by Kevin McNamara, Lawfulness of Detentions by the United States in Guantanamo Bay, accompanying the resolution and recommendation adopted by the PACE on 26 April 2005.

4 The person in question is Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, sentenced to life imprisonment by a Virginia grand jury on 3 May 2006; the jurors did not impose the death penalty sought by the federal prosecutors (thereby avoiding the trap set by the defendant, who clearly wished to be sentenced to death so as to appear a martyr). According to an American government document, now declassified, six important Al-Qaeda members directly involved in the organisation and funding of the 11 September attacks have apparently been captured by the United States. Although more heavily involved than Moussaoui, they have not been summoned before the American courts to answer for their actions (see also Le Monde of 22 April 2006).

5 Los Angeles Times of 4 May 2006.

6 A motion raising the issue of the UN black lists (Doc 10856) has been referred to the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, which is to submit a report on the subject in the near future.

7 Following an injunction by an American court, based on the provisions of press law, in April 2006 the Pentagon published, for the first time, a list of the names and nationalities of 558 people detained at Guantanamo. However, no details are given for some 140 people previously detained but no longer imprisoned at Guantanamo on that date. Furthermore, no outside body can confirm whether this list is actually comprehensive.

8 The United States has enjoyed observer status with the Committee of Ministers since 10 January 1996.

9 See Press Release of the United Nations Office at Geneva, CAT Concludes Thirty-Sixth Session, 19 May 2006: “The Committee was concerned by allegations that the State party had established secret detention facilities, which were not accessible to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Committee recommended that the United States cease to detain any person at Guantánamo Bay and that it close that detention facility, permit access by the detainees to judicial process or release them as soon as possible, ensuring that they were not returned to any State where they could face a real risk of being tortured”; available at:

http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/5FBB9C351B9E70EBC1257173004EB4CE?OpenDocument.

10 This meeting, along with several similar instances, was reported in a column in the Washington Post at the end of 2005. Leonard Downie, the Executive Editor of the Washington Post said: “We met with them on more than one occasion… The meetings were off the record for the purpose of discussing national security issues in [Dana Priest’s] story”. See Howard Kurtz, “Bush Presses Editors on Security”, The Washington Post, 26 December 2005; available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/25/AR2005122500665_pf.html

11 These include the Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper of October 2004 entitled The United States' 'Disappeared': The CIA's Long-Term Ghost Detainees; and the Amnesty International report AMR 51/051/2006 of 5 April 2006, entitled Below the radar: secret flights to torture and 'disappearance', as well as numerous articles describing in detail the new techniques for fighting terrorism, such as extraordinary renditions; for instance, the articles in the Corriere della Sera by Paolo Biondani and Guido Olimpio, which the latter has compiled and edited in a wellresearched book (Operazione Hotel California, Feltrinelli, 2005), along with articles by Stephen Grey (America's Gulag, The New Statesman, 17 May 2004; US Accused of Torture Flights, The Sunday Times, 14 November 2004; Les Etats-Unis inventent la délocalisation de la torture, Le Monde Diplomatique, April 2005); Alfred McCoy (Cruel Science: CIA Torture and U.S. Foreign Policy, New England Journal of Public Policy, Boston, 2004, an article subsequently expanded and published in book form, and also published in German under the title Foltern und foltern lassen, Zweitauseneins, 2005; Torture by Proxy: International and Domestic Law Applicable to “Extraordinary Renditions”, report published in 2004 by the Committee on International Human Rights of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law, the conclusions of which could not be clearer: Extraordinary Rendition is an illegal practice under both domestic and international law, and that, consistent with U.S. policy against torture, the U.S. government is duty bound to cease all acts of Extraordinary Rendition, to investigate Extraordinary Renditions that have already taken place, and to prosecute and punish those found to have engaged in acts that amount to crimes in connection with Extraordinary Rendition.

12 Temporary Committee on the Alleged Use of European Countries by the CIA for the Transport and Illegal Detention of Prisoners

(TDIP;http://www.europarl.eu.int/comparl/tempcom/tdip/default_en.htm).

13 See Le Monde, 27 April 2006.

14 See Le Monde, 18 May 2006.

15 The draft resolution of the European Parliament, produced as an annex to the interim report, can be consulted at:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/tempcom/tdip/interim_report_en.pdf.

16 These are the words of Judge Sandra Day O'Connor in the case of José Padilla, judgement of the United States Supreme Court, 28 June 2004.

17 Reversal of the burden of proof if the authorities concerned do not discharge their positive duty to investigate is not a new idea: Article 39 of the Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights provides that "The facts alleged in the petition, the pertinent parts of which have been transmitted to the State in question, shall be presumed to be true if the State has not provided responsive information during the maximum period set by the Commission under the provisions of Article 38 of these Rules of Procedure, as long as other evidence does not lead to a different conclusion". At the Council of Europe, this idea was applied in the Independent Experts' report to the Secretary General (by Mr Alkema and Mr Trechsel) on political prisoners in Azerbaijan (doc. SG/Inf (2001) 34 Addendum I), in which it was stated that the cases concerned had been submitted to the authorities for comments and observations and that, in the absence of substantive observations by the authorities, the experts had had to base their findings on plausible allegations from other sources (idem, p. 20).

2. The global “spider’s web”18

24. The system of targeting, apprehending and detaining terrorist suspects, which forms the focus of this report, is not an overnight creation. Nor has it been built up from scratch in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

25. I have chosen to adopt the metaphor of a global “spider’s web” as the leitmotif for my report. It is a web that has been spun out incrementally over several years, using tactics and techniques that have had to be developed in response to new theatres of war, new terms of engagement and an unpredictable threat.

26. The chief architect of the web, the United States of America, has long possessed the capacity to capture individual targets abroad and carry them to different parts of the world. Through its Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States designed a programme known as “rendition” for this purpose in the mid-1990s. The CIA aimed to take terrorist suspects in foreign countries “off the streets” by transporting them back to other countries, usually their home countries, where they were wanted for trial, or for detention without any form of due process.

2.1. The evolution of the rendition programme

27. During a recent mission to the United States, a member of my team came into contact with several “insider sources” in the US intelligence community. The most prominent such witness was Mr Michael Scheuer, who designed the original rendition programme in the 1990s under the Clinton Administration and remained employed by the CIA until November 200419. Excerpts of Mr Scheuer's testimony are reflected verbatim in this report and, to the extent possible, have been substantiated or corroborated by a range of other source material in the account below20.

28. The strategic target of the CIA rendition programme has always been, and remains, the global terrorist network known as Al-Qaeda. In the conception of the United States, Al-Qaeda exists as a nebulous collection of 'cells' in countries around the world, comprising 'operatives' who perform various roles in the preparation of terrorist attacks. When the US National Security Council became alarmed, in 1995, at what appeared to be a serious prospect of Osama bin Laden acquiring weapons of mass destruction, it developed rendition, according to Scheuer and others, as a way of “breaking down Al-Qaeda”, “taking down cells” and “incarcerating senior Al-Qaeda people”.

29. Rendition was designed, at the outset of the programme at least, to fit within the United States' interpretation of its legal obligations21. The prerequisites for launching a rendition operation in the pre-9/11 period included:

an “outstanding legal process” against the suspect, usually connected to terrorist offences in his country of origin;

a CIA “dossier”, or profile of the suspect, based on prior intelligence and in principle reviewed by lawyers;

a “country willing to help” in the apprehension of the suspect on its territory; and

“somewhere to take him after he was arrested”.

30. The receiving countries were, as a matter of policy, only asked to provide diplomatic assurances to the United States that they would “treat the suspects according to their own national laws”. After the transfer, the United States made no effort to assess the manner in which the detainees were subsequently treated22.

31. Intelligence gathering, according to Scheuer, was not considered to be a priority in the pre-9/11 programme:

“It was never intended to talk to any of these people. Success, at least as the Agency defined it, was to get someone, who was a danger to us or our allies, 'off the street' and, when we got him, to grab whatever documents he had with him. We knew that once he was captured he had been trained to either fabricate or to give us a great deal of information that we would chase for months and it would lead nowhere. So interrogations were always a very minor concern before 9/11.”23

32. Several current Council of Europe member States are known to have co-operated closely with the United States in the operation of its rendition programme under the Clinton Administration. Indeed, the United Kingdom Government has indicated to the Council of Europe that a system of prior notification existed in the 1990s, whereby even intended stopovers or over flights were reported by the United States in advance of each rendition operation.

33. The act of “rendition” may not per se constitute a breach of international human rights law. It is worth noting that other States have also asserted their right to apprehend a terrorist suspect on foreign territory in order to bring him to justice if the tool of international judicial assistance or cooperation did not attain the desired result27.

34. The most prominent legal authorities in the United States, including its Supreme Court, have interpreted the object of the pre-9/11 rendition programme to be within the law28. Indeed, several human rights NGOs have assessed the original practice under the rubric of “rendition to justice”, conceding that an inter-state transfer could be lawful if its object is to bring a suspect within a recognised judicial process respectful of human rights29. This indicator might in fact provide a legal benchmark against which unlawful inter-state transfers can be measured30.

35. However, there has clearly been a critical deviation away from notions of justice in the rendition programme. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the United States has transformed rendition into one of a range of instruments with which to pursue its so-called “war on terror”. The attacks of 9/11 genuinely signalled something of a watershed in the United States approach to overcoming the terrorist threat31. This new "war on terrorism" was launched by the military intervention in Afghanistan in October 2001. At the same time new importance was attached to the collection of intelligence on persons suspected of terrorism. The CIA was put under pressure to play a more proactive role in the detention and interrogation of suspects rather than just putting them "behind bars". Without appropriate preparation, a global policy of arresting and detaining "the enemies" of the United States was -still according to Scheuer - improvised hastily. It was up to the lawyers to "legitimise" these operations, whilst the CIA and the American military became the principal supervisors and operators of the system32.

36. Rendition operations have escalated in scale and changed in focus. The central effect of the post-9/11 rendition programme has been to place captured terrorist suspects outside the reach of any justice system and keep them there. The absence of human rights guarantees and the introduction of “enhanced interrogation techniques” have led, in several cases examined, as we shall see, to detainees being subjected to torture.

37. The reasons behind the transformation in the character of rendition are both political and operational. First, it is clear that the United States Government has set out to combat terrorism in an aggressive and urgent fashion. The executive has applied massive political pressure on all its agencies, particularly the CIA, to step up the intensity of their counter-terrorist activities. According to Scheuer, “after 9/11, we had nothing ready to go - the military had no plans, they had no response; so the Agency felt the brunt of the executive branch's desire to show the American people victories”33.

38. Second, and more importantly, the key operational change has been the mandate given to the CIA to administer its own detention facilities. When it takes terrorist suspects into its custody, the CIA no longer uses rendition to transport them into the custody of countries where they are wanted. Instead, for the highlevel suspects at least, rendition now leads to secret detention at the CIA's so-called “black sites”34 in unspecified locations around the world. Rather than face any form of justice, suspects become entrapped in the spider's web.

2.2. Components of the spider's web

39. In addition to CIA “black sites”, the spider’s web also encompasses a wider network of detention facilities run by other branches of the United States Government. Examples reported in the public domain have included the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay and military prisons such as Bagram in Afghanistan and Abu Ghraib in Iraq. Although the existence of such facilities is known, there are many aspects of their operation too that remain shrouded in secrecy.

40. It should also be noted that “rendition” flights by the CIA are not the only means of transporting detainees between different points on the web. Particularly in the context of transfers to Guantanamo Bay, detainees have been moved extensively on military aircraft35, including large cargo planes. Accordingly military flights have also fallen within the ambit of my inquiry.

41. The graphic included as an annex to this report depicts only a small portion of the global spider's web. It consists of two main components, described overleaf.

42. First it illustrates the flights of both civilian and military aircraft, operated by the United States, which appear to be connected to secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers also involving Council of Europe member states. This inquiry is based on seven separate sets of data from Eurocontrol36, combined with specific information from about twenty national aviation authorities in response to my requests. In this way, we have obtained a hitherto unique database37.

43. Second, it distinguishes four categories of aircraft landing points, which indicate the different degrees of collusion on the part of the countries concerned. These landing points have been placed into their respective categories as follows on the basis of the preponderance of evidence gathered38:

Category A: "Stopover points"

(points at which aircraft land to refuel, mostly on the way home)

Prestwick

Shannon

Roma Ciampino

Athens

Santa Maria (Azores)

Bangor

Prague

Category B: "Staging points"

(points from which operations are often launched -planes and crews prepare there, or meet in clusters) Washington

Frankfurt

Adana-Incirlik (Turkey)

Ramstein

Larnaca

Palma de Mallorca

Baku (Azerbaijan)

Category C: "One-off pick-up points"

(points from which, according to our research, one detainee or one group of detainees was picked up for rendition or unlawful transfer, but not as part of a systematic occurrence)

Stockholm-Bromma

Banjul

Skopje

Aviano

Tuzla

Category D: "Detainee transfer / Drop-off points"

(places visited often, where flights tend to stop for just short periods, mostly far off the obvious route - either their location is close to a site of a known detention facility or a prima facie case can be made to indicate a detention facility in their vicinity)

Cairo

Amman

Islamabad

Rabat Kabul

Guantanamo Bay

Timisoara / Bucharest (Romania)

Tashkent

Algiers

Baghdad

Szymany (Poland)

2.3. Compiling a database of aircraft movements

44. As we began our work in November 2005, various organisations and individuals in the non-governmental sector, especially investigative journalists and NGOs, sent us lists of aircraft suspected either of belonging to the CIA or of being operated on the CIA's behalf by bogus “front companies”. The lists contained details such as the type of aircraft, the registered owner and operator, and the “N-number“by which an aircraft is identified. These lists are the result of painstaking efforts to piece together information that is publicly available on certain Internet sites, observations by “planes potters” and testimony from former detainees. We subsequently received from Eurocontrol "flight plans" regarding these planes, at least in so far as the European air space is concerned, for the period between the end of 2001 and early 2005. The Eurocontrol data received in January and February 2006 include, on the one hand, the plans of flights foreseen (which can be changed even during a flight for different reasons) and, on the other hand, information that has been verified following a request for collection of route charges, and flight data obtained from aviation authorities in the United States and elsewhere.

45. The lists requested from Eurocontrol in our original correspondence were somewhat speculative, but knowingly so. It was important for the inquiry team, in conjunction with external experts and investigators familiar with the topic, to gain a sense of how CIA-related aircraft operate in relation to the thousands of other, non-CIA aircraft that use European airspace. In other words we sought to build a profile of the characteristics of CIA flights. Additionally we hoped that by casting our net widely, we may be able to identify planes never before connected to the CIA.

46. We subsequently reverted to Eurocontrol on several occasions to obtain additional flight records39. As our work has progressed, we have been able to narrow down the number of aircraft movements that are of interest to our work and develop our analysis into a more sophisticated, realistic measure of the extent of illegality in the CIA's clandestine flight operations.

47. Based on our initial analysis, we sent a series of one-off additional requests to certain national air traffic control bodies in order to obtain records of the flights actually made in their countries; we also asked for data on the movements of military aircraft, which are not covered by Eurocontrol.

48. I am happy to report that through this channel I received useful information from various state institutions in different Council of Europe member States, including from transport ministries, aeronautic authorities, airport operators and state airlines. In addition, I obtained official records from national parliaments directly, including papers lodged by ministries of defence in response to parliamentary questions40. All of these diverse sources have contributed to the database of aircraft movements relied upon in this report.

2.4. Operations of the spider's web

49. We believe that we have made a significant step towards a better comprehension of the system of "renditions" and secret detention centres. One observation must be made. We should not lose our sense of proportion. It would be exaggerated to talk of thousands of flights, let alone hundreds of renditions concerning Europe. On this point I share the views expressed by members of the US Department of State, who recently delivered a first-hand briefing in Washington, DC at which a member of my team was present41. We undermine our credibility and limit the possibility for serious discussion if we make allegations that are ambiguous, exaggerated or unsubstantiated42. Indeed, it is evident that not all flights of CIA aircraft participate in "renditions". As Mr John Bellinger pointed out:

“Intelligence flights are a manifestation of the co-operation that happens amongst us. They carry analysts to talk with one another; they carry evidence that has been collected… I’m sure the Director of Intelligence himself was personally on a number of those flights.”43

Mr Scheuer gave another explanation as to the purposes of such flights:

“There are lots of reasons other than moving prisoners to have aircrafts. It all depends on what you are doing. If you are in Afghanistan and you're supplying weapons to a commander that is working with Karzai's Government, then it could be a plane load of weapons. It could be food - the CIA is co-located with the US Military in bases around the country, so it could be rations.

Also, we try to take care of our people as well as we can, so it's toiletries, its magazines, its video recorders, it's coffee makers. We even take up collections at Christmas, to make sure we can send out hundreds and hundreds of pounds of Starbucks Coffee. So out of a thousand flights, I would bet that 98% of those flights are about logistics!”44

In fact it is precisely the remaining 2% that interests us.

50. In order to understand the notion of a "spider's web", it is not about the overall numbers of flights45; it is rather about the nature and context of individual flights. Our research has covered ten case studies of alleged unlawful inter-state transfers, involving a total of seventeen individual detainees. In most of these cases it was possible to generate flight logs from the amalgamated official flight database referred to earlier. I have then matched those logs with the times, dates and places of the alleged transfer operations -according to victims themselves, lawyer's notes or other sources. Finally, where possible, I have corroborated this information with factual elements acquired from legal proceedings in Council of Europe member states or in the United States.

51. In translating these case studies into graphic representations, I resolved to trace each flight route not individually, but as part of a circuit. Each circuit begins and ends, where possible, at the aircraft’s “home base” (very often Dulles Airport in Washington, DC) in the United States. Following these flight circuits helps to better understand the different categories of aircraft landings - simple stopovers for refuelling, staging points that host clusters of CIA aircraft or serve to launch operations, and detainee drop-off points. Despite being a fairly simple analytical technique, it has also helped discover some significant new information, which we present in the following sections.

2.5. Successive rendition operations and secret detentions

52. We believe we are in a position to state that successive CIA rendition operations have taken place in the course of the same, single flight circuit. Two of the rendition case studies examined in this report, both involving Council of Europe member States to differing degrees, belonged to the same clandestine circuit of abductions and renditions at different points of the spider's web. The information at our disposal indicates that the renditions of Binyam Mohamed and Khaled El-Masri were carried out by the same CIA-operated aircraft, within 48 hours of one another, in the course of the same 12-day tour in January 2004. This finding appears significant for a number of reasons. First, since neither man even knows of the other - Mr Mohamed is still detained at Guantanamo Bay nor Mr El-Masri has returned to his home community near Ulm in the South of Germany - their respective stories can be used to lend credence to one another. My team has received direct or indirect testimony from each of them independently.

53. As they both allege having been subjected to CIA rendition, the fact that the same aircraft - operated by a CIA-linked company - carried out two transfers in such quick succession allows us to speak of the existence of a “rendition circuit” within the "spider’s web".

54. It is also possible to develop a hypothesis as to the nature of some other aircraft landings belonging to the same renditions circuit. Thus, for example, the landings which occurred directly before and directly after the El-Masri rendition bear the typical characteristics of rendition operations46.

55. Our analysis of the rendition programme in the post-9/11 era allows us to infer that the transfer of other detainees on this rendition circuit must have entailed detainees being transferred out of Kabul to alternative detention facilities in different countries. Thus, drawing upon official flight data, the probable existence of secret detention facilities can be inferred in Algeria and, as we will see, in Romania.

2.6. Detention facilities in Romania and Poland

2.6.1 The case of Romania

56. Romania is thus far the only Council of Europe member State to be located on one of the rendition circuits we believe we have identified and which bears all the characteristics of a detainee transfer or drop-off point. The N313P rendition plane landed in Timisoara at 11.51 pm on 25 January 2004 and departed just 72 minutes later, at 1.03 am on 26 January 2004. I am grateful to the Romanian Civil Aeronautic Authority for confirming these flight movements47.

57. It is known that detainee transport flights are customarily night flights, as is the case of the other rendition flights already documented. The only other points on this rendition circuit from which the plane took off at a similar hour of the morning were Rabat, Morocco (departure at 2.05 am) and Skopje, Macedonia (departure at 1.30 am). In both of these cases, we possess sufficient indications to claim that when the plane left its destination, it was carrying a prisoner to a secret detention centre situated in Kabul.

58. We can likewise affirm that the plane was not carrying prisoners to further detention when it left Timisoara. Its next destination, after all, was Palma de Mallorca, a well-established “staging point”, also used for recuperation purposes in the midst of rendition circuits.

59. There is documentation in this instance that the passengers of the N313P plane, using US Government passports48 and apparently false identities49, stayed in a hotel in Palma de Mallorca for two nights before returning to the United States. One can deduce that these passengers, in addition to the crew of the plane, comprised a CIA rendition team, the same team performing all renditions on this circuit.

60. The N313P plane stayed on the runway at Timisoara on the night of 25 January 2004 for barely one hour. Based on analysis of the flight capacity of N313P, a Boeing 737 jet, in line with typical flight behaviours of CIA planes, it is highly unlikely that the purpose of heading to Romania was to refuel. The plane had the capacity to reach Palma de Mallorca, just over 7 hours away, directly from Kabul that night -twice previously on the same circuit, it had already flown longer distances of 7 hours 53 minutes (Rabat to Kabul) and 7 hours 45 minutes (Kabul to Algiers).

61. It should be recalled that the rendition team stayed about 30 hours in Kabul after having "rendered" Khaled El-Masri. Then, it flew to Romania on the same plane. Having eliminated other explanations - including that of a simple logistics flight, as the trip is a part of a well-established renditions circuit - the most likely hypothesis is that the purpose of this flight was to transport one or several detainees from Kabul to Romania.

62. We consider that while all these factual elements do not provide definitive evidence of secret detention centres, they do justify on their own a positive obligation to carry out a serious investigation, which the Romanian authorities do not seem to have done to date.

2.6.2. The case of Poland

63. Poland was likewise singled out as a country which had harboured secret detention centres.

64. On the basis of information obtained from different sources we were able to determine that persons suspected of being high level terrorists were transferred out of a secret CIA detention facility in Kabul, Afghanistan in late September and October 200350. During this period, my official database shows that the only arrival of CIA-linked aircraft from Kabul in Europe was at the Polish airport of Szymany. The flights in question, carried out by the well-known 'rendition plane' N313P, bear all the hallmarks of a rendition circuit.

65. The plane had arrived in Kabul, on 21 September 2003, from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The axis between Tashkent and Kabul was well known for detainee transfers51. Still, according to information received, the most significant detainee movements at this time probably involved transfers out of Kabul. The explanation attributed by NGO sources and journalists who have investigated this period52 is that the CIA required a more isolated, secure, controlled environment in which to hold its high-level detainees, due to the proliferation of both prison facilities and prisoners in Afghanistan arising from the escalating “war on terrorism”.

66. Thus, the circuit in question continued on 22 September 2003, when the plane flew from Kabul to Szymany airport in Poland. On the same grounds given above for the case of Romania, one may deduce that this flight was a CIA rendition, culminating in a “detainee drop-off” in Poland.

67. Szymany is described by the Chairman of the Polish delegation to PACE as a “former Defence Ministry airfield”, located near the rural town of Szczytno in the North of the country. It is close to a large facility used by the Polish intelligence services, known as the Stare Kiejkuty base. Both the airport and the nearby base were depicted on satellite images I obtained in January 200653.

68. It is noteworthy that the Polish authorities have been unable, despite repeated requests, to provide me with information from their own national aviation records to confirm any CIA-connected flights into Poland. In his letter of 9 May 2006, my colleague Karol Karski, the Chairman of the Polish delegation to PACE, explained:

"I addressed the Polish authorities competent in gathering the air traffic data, related to these aircraft numbers… I was informed that several numbers from your list were still not found in our flight logs' records. Being not aware about the source of your information connecting these flight numbers with Polish airspace, I am not able, [nor are] the Polish air traffic control authorities, to comment on the fact of missing them in our records."54

69. Mr. Karski also made the following statement, which reflects the position of the Polish Government on the question of CIA renditions:

"According to the information I have been provided with, none of the questioned flights was recorded in the traffic controlled by our competent authorities - in connection with Szymany or any other Polish airport."

70. The absence of flight records from a country such as Poland is unusual. A host of neighbouring countries, including Romania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have had no such similar problems in retrieving official data for the period since 2001. Indeed, the submissions of these countries, along with my data from Eurocontrol, confirm numerous flights into and out of Polish airports by the CIA-linked planes that are the subject of this report.

71. In this light, Poland cannot be considered to be outside the rendition circuits simply because it has failed to furnish information corroborating our data from other sources. I have thus presented in my graphic the suspected rendition circuit involving Szymany airport, in which the landing at Szymany is placed in the category of “detainee drop-off” points.

72. According to records in our possession, the N313P plane remained at Szymany airport on 22 September 2003 for just 64 minutes. I can also confirm that the plane then flew from Szymany to Romania, where it landed, after a change of course, in Bucharest Baneasa airport. Here, as in the case of Timisoara above, the aircraft landing in Romania fits the profile of a “detainee drop-off”.

73. It is possible that several detainees may have been transported together on the flight out of Kabul, with some being left in Poland and some being left in Romania. This pattern would conform to information from other sources, which indicated the simultaneous existence of secret prisons in these two Council of Europe member States55.

74. This suspected rendition circuit continued after Romania by landing in Rabat, Morocco, which several elements point to as a location that harbours a detention facility56. It is conceivable that this landing may even have constituted a third “detainee drop-off” in succession before the plane returned to the United States, via Guantanamo Bay.

75. As for Romania, I find that there is now a preponderance of indications, not to prove the existence of detention centres, but in any case to open a real in-depth and transparent inquiry. One can add that the sources at the origin of the publications by Human Rights Watch, The Washington Post and ABC News, referring to the existence of such centres in Romania and Poland, are multiple, concordant and particularly well informed, as they belong to the very services that have directed these operations.

2.7. The human impact of rendition and secret detention

76. Rendition is a degrading and dehumanising practice; certainly for its victims, but also for those who perform the operations. This simple realisation has become clear to me and my team as we have met with various people whose lives have been indelibly changed by rendition.

77. Therefore, while it is necessary to analyse the global system that rendition has become, we should never lose sight of the human dimension, as this is at the core of the abuses.

78. I have considered the human impact of rendition in two ways: first, the systematic CIA practice of preparing a detainee to be transported on a rendition aircraft; and second, the grave and long-lasting psychological damage that extraordinary rendition inflicts upon its victims.

2.7.1. CIA methodology - how a detainee is treated during a rendition

79. The descriptions of rendition operations in this report reflect many different individual cases. These cases entail a diverse range of victims, being captured in and transferred to numerous different countries, spanning a time period of several years. The stories are recounted by both first- and second-hand witnesses, speaking various languages in various public and private forums. Some of the people subjected to rendition have since been released, while others are still detained in the custody of the United States or another country. In short, the cases appear to have little or no connection to one another.