Blair says UK has been 'open' on CIA flights
24.01.06
Tony Blair today said the government had been "extremely open" about its knowledge of the transfer of US terror suspects.
There have been claims that hundreds of secret CIA flights have used British airports for the practice of extraordinary rendition - spiriting away foreign citizens without the normal extradition process, which critics argue could lead to torture.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, last week told MPs the government knew of only four requests for the transfer of detainees through the UK, all of which pre-dated the September 11 2001 terror attacks and two of which were refused.
A leaked Foreign Office memo obtained by the New Statesman said the government did not know how many times the US had used British airports for rendition flights.
Mr Blair today told his monthly press conference he knew of no requests from the US for the use of British airspace for rendition other than the four revealed by Mr Straw.
"I think Jack has disclosed any of the cases that have been put to us," he said. "We have looked very carefully at whether there was any request made to us and we have disclosed the circumstances in which those requests were made.
"I don't know any more than has been put out there. I think we have been extremely open about it."
The prime minister said such flights only took place when the US had the consent of the country concerned and assurances were given about the treatment of the individual.
"I am not in a position to say whether in each case [...] procedure has been followed or not. But that is what they say," he said.
The leaked memo said MI5 had identified two cases of extraordinary rendition and "the papers we have unearthed so far suggest there could be more such cases".
The first involved Mohammed Rashed Daoud al-Owhali, who was transported from Kenya to the US via Stansted airport in 1998 to stand trial for the Nairobi embassy bombing.
In the second case, also dating from 1998, the request from the US authorities was turned down because it involved transporting a suspect to Egypt.
The memo, drawn up by a member of Mr Straw's private office, warned that rendition was illegal under both UK and international law, except in certain rare, "tightly defined" cases, and that co-operating with US rendition operations could also be unlawful.
Any case in which there was a "real risk" of torture could never be legal, it said.
MPs expressed concern at a passage in the leaked memo, apparently sent to prepare Mr Blair for prime minister's questions on December 7, advising him not to go into detail on the issue.
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