Guardian UK: Claims of secret CIA jail for terror suspects on British island to be investigated

[BuyingThyme]

Claims of secret CIA jail for terror suspects on British island to be investigated

· Legal charity urges action on Diego Garcia claims
· Prisoners may have been held in ships off coast

Ian Cobain and Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday October 19, 2007
The Guardian

Allegations that the CIA held al-Qaida suspects for interrogation at a secret prison on sovereign British territory are to be investigated by MPs, the Guardian has learned. The all-party foreign affairs committee is to examine long-standing suspicions that the agency has operated one of its so-called "black site" prisons on Diego Garcia, the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean that is home to a large US military base.

Lawyers from Reprieve, a legal charity that represents a number of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, including several former British residents, are calling on the committee to question US and British officials about the allegations. According to the organisation's submission to the committee, the UK government is "potentially systematically complicit in the most serious crimes against humanity of disappearance, torture and prolonged incommunicado detention".

Clive Stafford Smith, the charity's legal director, said he was "absolutely and categorically certain" that prisoners have been held on the island. "If the foreign affairs committee approaches this thoroughly, they will get to the bottom of it," he said.

Andrew Tyrie, Tory MP for Chichester and a campaigner against the CIA's use of detention without trial, has also urged the committee to investigate. He said: "Time and time again the UK government has relied on US assurances on this issue, refusing to examine the truth of these allegations for themselves. It is high time our government took its head out of the sand and looked into these allegations."

...

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,2194798,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Good summary at the link.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Lease runs out in 8 years time.

Hopefully it won't be renewed and the Chagos Islanders will be allowed to return to their original home.

[BrotherBuzz]

2. Guantánamo Bay, Diego Garcia, or onboard a ship in international waters...

they all share the same degree of quasi immunity from US laws. It's quite apparent they are trying to fly under the radar to avoid accountability.

[CTuttle]

3. But, they're not immune from International Conventions...

I see you're sporting the 'We Work Weekends' patch!!!:patriot:

[BuyingThyme]

4. Welcome to DU, CTuttle!

:hi:

[CTuttle]

5. Mahalo!

I'm a long time Fire Pup, but, I decided to spread my wings out...!!!B-)

[BrotherBuzz]

6. Only if they get caught

We Work Weekends' patch? That is the patch of my old engineer Battalion, the last remnant of the 92nd Infantry Division, "Buffalo Soldiers" during WWI and WWII. Today they have been integrated into the Fourth Division, and serving in Iraq (some elements of my old unit are on their fourth damn tour)

[CTuttle]

7. As a former 12B30 I'm well aware...!!!

The patch in subdued tones looks like three W's, and, being an engineer...!!! ;-)