Memo points to more 'rendition' flights

A LEAKED memo from the Foreign Office to Downing Street last night revealed uncertainty in Whitehall over the number of so-called "rendition" flights operated secretly by the US through British airspace.

The memo - obtained by the New Statesman magazine - suggests that there may have been more of the flights, involving the transfer of detainees between countries, than the two so far confirmed by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Written in early December, the memo appears to be a primer to help Tony Blair deal with questions about rendition. It warns: "We are urgently examining the files. We cannot say that we have received no such request for the use of UK territory. The papers we have uncovered so far suggest that there could be more than the two cases referred to in the House by the Foreign Secretary."

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the memo required "fresh explanations from the Foreign Office".

Concerned MPs from all the main parties have demanded answers from the government about reports that planes operated by the CIA have passed through UK airspace and stopped off at UK airports to refuel on hundreds of occasions in recent years. There have been claims that the flights are transferring terror suspects to US prison camps such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Bagram in Afghanistan, or taking them to other countries where they may face torture.

The Scottish National Party yesterday released a dossier detailing ten firms which allegedly operated as CIA "front" companies and a series of flights supposed to have landed at Prestwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh airports.

Meanwhile in another development, a leading human rights group claimed the Bush administration has a deliberate strategy of abusing terror suspects during interrogations.

In its annual report on the treatment of prisoners, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said George Bush's reassurances that the United States did not torture suspects were deceptive and rang hollow.

A White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, rejected the report's conclusions. "It appears to be based more on a political agenda than facts," he said. "The US does more than any country in the world to advance freedom and promote human rights."