MEP condemns UK collusion in US flights of terror

4.01.34pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 7th Jun 2006

Liz Lynne, Lib Dem MEP for the West Midlands and member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, today roundly condemned the apparent collusion of fourteen European nations, including the UK, in the US extraordinary rendition programme.

A report by Europe's Human Rights Watchdog is today set to reveal that countries such as Germany, Spain, Turkey and the UK provided "staging posts" for rendition operations. The BBC, who has seen an advanced copy of the report, claims that there is also evidence to support suspicions that secret CIA camps are or were located in Poland and Romania.

Speaking today in Brussels Liz Lynne said:

"I am appalled to think that the Labour government knowingly allowed the UK to be used as a stopover for these rendition flights, from where suspects were potentially taken to other European nations and tortured."

"I am gravely troubled that so many EU nations have been listed in this report as being in collusion with the CIA regarding these flights of terror. The idea of secret "black sites", jails set up in Eastern Europe to illegally interrogate prisoners, is the most concerning; in total twelve Member States were listed as having varying degrees of involvement in this, as well as four EU candidate states. European governments must explain their actions if they are to maintain any respect as champions of human rights around the world."

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5054426.stm