Canada: CIA flights - Canada's role needs greater scrutiny
Posted: 20 January 2006
Updated: 5 April 2006
Condaleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State, issues statement denying the U.S. uses CIA flights to transport terror suspects to other countries for torture, 5 December 2005, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.
© APGraphicsBank
In October 2002, a Gulfstream III with the registration number N829MG (later re-registered as N259SK), was used to fly dual Syrian-Canadian citizen Maher Arar from the US to Jordan en route to Syria. After a year of detention without charge – during which time he was tortured – he was finally released and returned to Canada.
The plane in question belonged to one of a number of private companies contracted by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for hundreds of rendition flights since 2001. Like Maher Arar, most victims of rendition – the illegal transfer of prisoners from country to country – have ended up in places known to use torture and ill-treatment in their interrogations.
Many rendition flights need to land and refuel before reaching their final destination. Countries which provide these support services are playing a role in the illegal practice of rendition and related human rights violations including “disappearances”, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention.
Although Maher Arar’s flight did not touch down in Canada, at least 70 other CIA flights have. The Canadian government, while claiming there is no evidence of “illegal activities”, will not release any details.
European governments, however, appear to be treating the issue more seriously and openly. The Council of Europe appointed a special investigator, Swiss Senator Dick Marty, and is currently conducting public hearings.
Amnesty International is calling on all governments to ensure that their territory and facilities are not used to assist rendition flights.
TAKE ACTION:
Write to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and ask him what the Canadian government is doing to make sure that the nation’s airports and airspace are not used to support and facilitate renditions or renditions flights. Call for a full investigation of past CIA flights which have touched down in Canada.
WRITE TO:
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
340 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa , Ontario. K1A 0P8 Email: Day.S@parl.gc.ca
Fax: 613-952-2240
Further background: safeguards for "rendition" flights
A full set of recommendations can be found within the Amnesty International report United States of America, Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and 'disappearance.'
Here are some of the key safeguards which should be implemented immediately:
- Maintain and update a register of aircraft operators whose planes were used in rendition flights. Require them to provide detailed information before allowing them to land or flyover Canadian airspace.
- When passengers are listed as prisoners or detainees, the aircraft operator must provide more detailed information about their status and the purpose of the flight (including the final destination and the legal basis for the person's transfer).
- Refuse access to airspace and airfields if this information is not provided.
- If there are grounds to believe that an aircraft is involved in renditions or other human rights violations, board the plane or require it to land for inspection.
- If an inspection indicates that the flight is being used for the unlawful transfer of people, or other human rights violations, the flight should be held until appropriate law enforcement action is taken.