Rice to deny US torture claims as Scottish airports linked to CIA row

• US secretary of state to deny claims CIA moved suspected terrorists via UK

• Photographs exist of CIA planes in Prestwick and Edinburgh airport

• Concerns that suspected terrorists were en route to be tortured

Key quote

"Mistakes get made and people go over the line. And when they do, the pattern is very clear. We investigate them aggressively, where appropriate charges are brought and people are punished - and procedures are changed to try and reduce likelihood of mistakes in the future." - STEPHEN HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

Story in full CONDOLEEZA Rice, the US secretary of state, will use her European tour this week to deny vehemently claims that the CIA has transported suspected terrorists around the globe to be tortured, a senior presidential official said yesterday.

Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, said Ms Rice would tell the European Union that America complied with US law and respected the sovereignty of other countries.

He said Ms Rice would address the matter "in a comprehensive way".

Mr Hadley's pledge came as photographs emerged of aircraft at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Prestwick airports said to be proof that the airports were being used by the CIA for anti-terrorist "ghost flights".

One photograph showed an aircraft landing at Edinburgh in June 2004. Months later, the same aircraft was photographed at Kabul airport in Afghanistan. The plane was reported to be operated by a company acting as a front for the CIA.

Another photograph showed a civilian Hercules landing at Prestwick last year. The plane was operated by a company that was reported to be run by the CIA and used to move al-Qaeda suspects across Europe.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that the US acknowledged that last year the CIA had wrongfully imprisoned Khaled al-Masri, a Lebanese-born German, for five months.

Mr Hadley said Ms Rice would make the US position clear. He said: "One of the things she will be saying is, 'Look, we are all threatened by terror. We need to co-operate in its solution'. As part of that co-operation for our part, we comply with US law. We respect the sovereignty of the countries with which we deal. And we do not move people around the world so that they can be tortured."

Ms Rice begins her visit in Romania, which the campaign group Human Rights Watch has said is the probable site of a secret detention camp. She will also visit Berlin, Kiev and Brussels.

However, Mr Hadley conceded that "mistakes get made and people go over the line. And when they do, the pattern is very clear. We investigate them aggressively, where appropriate charges are brought and people are punished - and procedures are changed to try and reduce likelihood of mistakes in the future."

The adviser also acknowledged that the CIA trod a fine line. He said: "The folks who are fighting the war on terror have a difficult job. They are charged to be both aggressive, to defend the country against attack, and at the same time to comply with US constitution, law and treaty obligations. That is a difficult line to walk."

The White House is seeking an exemption for the CIA from a possible ban on torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners, which has been proposed by John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona. The ban has been passed as an amendment to a Pentagon funding bill.

The Washington Post reported that Mr Masri was seized while on holiday in Europe last year and taken to a US prison in Afghanistan, where he was tortured and interrogated for suspected ties to al-Qaeda.

The newspaper said the US wanted German officials to keep silent because of fears of exposing a covert US operation to capture terror suspects abroad and transfer them to other countries.

There are at least six investigations into whether European countries may have hosted secret US-run prisons, and whether European airports and airspace were used for CIA flights in which prisoners were tortured or transported to countries where torture is practised. Franco Frattini, the EU commissioner in charge of justice and interior affairs, warned last week he might propose sanctions if any EU member nation was found to have permitted a secret detention centre.