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Thu, 08 Jun 2006
Cyprus could not be left behind.
Let's see what more comes out of this. As citiizens of this island, we should be tolerant towards this type of stuff (well, we should not be tolerant about million other things too). Why should we continue to be a pawn in their hands?
Cyprus ‘colluded in CIA torture flights’ By Jean Christou ‘We were told they were technical landings’
CYPRUS is one of 20 mainly European countries that facilitated so-called CIA torture flights, a Council of Europe (CoE) report published yesterday revealed.
When the allegations were first rumoured last November, the Foreign Ministry denied any connection between the CIA rendition flights and Cyprus.
However, Sotos Zacheos the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry told the Cyprus Mail yesterday, following publication of the CoE report, that the government had no idea of what the planes were when they landed in Larnaca.
“We were never actually asked by the US [to facilitate the flights],” he said. “We were told they were all technical landings and they informed us of this from the air that there were technical reasons they had to land.”
Zacheos said it was an international obligation to facilitate the landing of any aircraft with technical problems. “We had no suspicions [about the flights],” he said, adding the government would “will issue a full and transparent statement” on the issue today.
According to the report compiled by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights at the CoE, Cyprus, along with Germany, Turkey and Spain, was a "staging point" for flights involving the unlawful transfer of detainees.
Ireland, Britain, Portugal, Greece and Italy were "stopovers" for flights involving the unlawful transfer of detainees, Sweden, Bosnia, Britain, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Germany and Turkey handed over suspects, Cairo, Amman, Islamabad, Rabat, Kabul, Guantanamo Bay, Tashkent, Algiers and Baghdad served as detainee transfer/drop-off points, and Poland and Romania ran secret detention centres
"It is now clear – although we are still far from having established the whole truth – that authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities," Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty said.
"Other countries ignored them knowingly, or did not want to know," he said in the conclusions of the 65-page report released on the body's website.
While the report admits it has "no formal evidence" of secret CIA detention centres, it said a number of states had clearly colluded with the system of CIA secret flights and secret transfers known as renditions.
Marty said that flight data provided in January and February from Eurocontrol helped uncover the web of flights, detention centres and stop-off points used in the US-devised system.
A staging post such as Cyprus was described as involving not just a landing or stopover but would include planning and other operational activities. The planes reportedly used by the CIA, such as the N313P, are not military jets. The N313P, a Gulfstream Turbo Jet V, belongs to the Premier Executive Transport Services, believed to be a CIA front.
When Human Rights Watch first named Cyprus last year, Foreign Minister George Iacovou said he had heard nothing about any CIA planes landing in Cyprus, only about flyover rights. He said Cyprus had no formal arrangements with the US in their ‘War on Terror’.
The involvement of Cyprus came as no surprise to MP Christos Pourgourides, rapporteur of the Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. He said it was quite obvious that the government had “shut their eyes” to what was going on.
“To me it’s obvious they were fully aware of the coming and going and no one bothered to investigate,” he told the Cyprus Mail.
Pourgourides said it was typical of the government to present itself as the great patriot when it came to the US and the Cyprus issue, “but when it comes to actually standing up to the US, they never do”.
He said when he returned to Cyprus he may attempt to have the flights issue brought up for debate in parliament at the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The US embassy in Nicosia, quoting past comments from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, told the Cyprus Mail that it was the policy of the US to comply with its laws and treaty obligations.
“The War on Terrorism sometimes involves the capture, detention and questioning of terrorists. We must question them to gather significant, potentially life-saving intelligence,” said an embassy spokesman.
“Our law enforcement and intelligence co-operation has resulted in foiling a number of deadly plots against cities and citizens in Europe and elsewhere.”
The spokesman said the embassy could not confirm or deny details of intelligence activities.
“However, the US does not transport detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation by torture,” the spokesman added.
“In conducting rendition, the US government complies with its international obligations and has respected and will continue to respect the sovereignty of other countries.”
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