UK 'can search' US rendition aircraft

THE United States has said that British police can board and search rendition flights carrying terrorist suspects if the authorities can produce evidence of a crime and officers turn up with a search warrant.

The US has been criticised for not allowing routine inspections of aircraft at UK airports amid allegations it is flying suspects to be tortured.

But yesterday Cecile Shea, the US consul in Scotland, told The Scotsman that if UK authorities had evidence that a crime had been committed then under British law police could seek a search warrant and if succesful board the aircraft.

"If the crown prosecutor does believe a crime is being committed they should file a warrant and search the plane," she said. "If the crown prosecutor was to obtain a search warrant we would honour it."

However she again ruled out allowing routine searches of US aircraft, as requested by opponents of the US policy of extraordinary rendition.

"These people are asking to search every plane and the answer to that is no," she said.

The US has been accused of using Scottish and other UK airports to refuel aircraft which have been involved in transporting suspected terrorists to countries where they may undergo torture, but it has repeatedly denied that it has broken any international laws.

Colin Boyd, the Lord Advocate, has previously stated that he has no evidence to justify the issuing of a search warrant to inspect US flights and yesterday the Crown Office said police would not be able to board flights without a warrant.

A Crown Office spokeswoman said that aircraft were treated as private property. She said police could board a plane if they believed there was "evidence that there is an ongoing dangerous situation", but said that would not cover the movement of terrorist suspects.

"In the case that someone was being taken somewhere, that would not be enough to board immediately because the torture was not happening then and there. The immediate risk to life is not there," she said.

The SNP yesterday urged the US to voluntarily allow British investigators to board flights suspected of being involved in rendition without warrants.

Angus Robertson, the party's foreign affairs spokesman, said: "If we are going to work together and maintain the highest human rights standards we need to show that none of these activities are going on."

Human rights campaigners have argued that the UK has a duty under international law to investigate allegations that its airports are being used by aircraft transporting prisoners to be tortured.

Professor Alan Miller, a specialist in human rights law at Strathclyde University, explained.

He said: "The UK has ratified the convention on torture, which requires the UK to ensure it is not complicit in torture. The UK has a legal obligation under international law to take appropriate action."

He said that there appeared to be enough evidence already available to obtain warrants to search aircraft even with no prisoners on board.

Straw denies claims over 'torture flights'

JACK Straw yesterday issued a trenchant denial that he misled MPs over the use of British airports for US "torture flights".

A leaked memo suggested ministers may have covered up their knowledge of "extraordinary rendition" - the US policy of moving terror suspects to countries which use torture.

However, the Foreign Secretary said there was no evidence of detainees being moved through the UK since 11 September, 2001.

"There were four cases in 1998 where the US requested permission to render one or more detainees through the UK or overseas territories. In two of these cases, records show the government granted the US request and refused two others," he added in a statement.