'No evidence' to back torture flights claims says Straw

JACK STRAW today said there was no evidence that terror suspects had been flown through Britain by the CIA.

Ahead of a statement to Parliament today, the Foreign Secretary said careful research had been unable to identify any occasion when the US secret service had used British air space and British airports to take individuals for interrogation in a third country.

He was responding to human rights group Liberty, which wants an investigation into whether flights taking terror suspects for questioning and possible torture had passed through British airports.

Mr Straw also highlighted his American counterpart Condoleezza Rice's assurance that the practice known as "extraordinary rendition" did not involve suspects being taken to countries where they could be tortured.

Mr Straw was speaking on Radio 4 before addressing MPs after a question by Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell.

Liberty has claimed that "extraordinary rendition" has taken place using a number of UK airports, including Edinburgh.