Demand for scrutiny of Scotland's role in 'torture flight' stopovers

HUMAN rights groups yesterday called for an investigation into Scotland's involvement in "torture flights" after the European Parliament condemned the use of UK airports in the alleged transport of United States prisoners of war.

Prestwick airport, Glasgow International and Edinburgh airport have all been named as stopovers for flights allegedly carrying people accused of terrorism to other countries not bound by human rights codes in the treatment of suspects.

Yesterday, Euro MPs voted to adopt a report condemning the UK's involvement in the so-called "extraordinary rendition" flights. The report, approved in Strasbourg after a year-long inquiry, says more than 1,000 covert flights operated by the CIA flew into European airspace or stopped over at European airports between the end of 2001 and the end of 2005.

The UK government is singled out for co-operating with the CIA in sending three UK residents on rendition fights for questioning in connection with alleged terrorism.

The UK is also one of the three countries, with Germany and Ireland, where the volume of CIA flights was greatest.

At Prestwick, more than 156 US warplanes linked to military intelligence landed during the controversy.

John Watson, Amnesty International's programme director for Scotland, called for an investigation into the country's involvement.

"We call on the Scottish Executive to establish whether Scottish airports have been complicit in the kidnapping, transporting, secret detention and torture of prisoners by allowing CIA rendition flights to land and refuel," he said.

"The UK government has to establish whether its officials have been involved in the extraordinary rendition and torture of prisoners. The government line that it has checked and can find no evidence of complicity with CIA rendition is not good enough.

"Scotland should follow the lead of several European countries in allowing independent investigations into any Scottish involvement with rendition."

Alyn Smith, the SNP MEP, was also concerned at Scotland's involvement.

He said:

"There are still major concerns over what happened at Scotland's airports. We do not know and have not been told. This report does a good job in bringing greater clarity to the issue but does not answer those key questions.

"Once again, I urge the Scottish Executive, in particular those Liberal Democrats in the Executive who freely call for an inquiry in London, to back up their calls with an inquiry into events in Scotland."

Yesterday's report carries no legal weight, and follows a separate report by human rights watchdog the Council of Europe last year, which said the CIA ran a "global spider's web" of rendition flights, with European countries acting as staging posts.

The Scottish Executive insists it is a reserved matter.