Spain says CIA rendition flights may have used Spanish airports News
Spain says CIA rendition flights may have used Spanish airports

[JURIST] Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos [official profile, in Spanish; Euroresidentes profile] acknowledged Thursday that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] planes transporting detainees to secret prisons [JURIST news archive] in Europe may have stopped over on its soil. Moratinos told a European Parliament committee that although the US had assured Spain that no suspects were aboard the planes, the islands of Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife "may have been used not to commit crimes on it but as a stopover on the way to committing crime in another country." The Spanish government is investigating 60 suspected flights [JURIST report] that passed through the islands. Last fall, a similar investigation [JURIST report] led to the conclusion that such flights were legal [JURIST report].

Investigation into CIA rendition flights [JURIST news archive] and criticism of the CIA has been widespread in Europe since President Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons [JURIST report] for the first time last week. Moratinos plans to urge other European leaders to speak out [EU Observer report] against the operation of such prisons at a foreign affairs meeting on Friday. BBC News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emporer

On December 25, 800 A.D., Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in Rome, Italy. During his lifetime, Charlemagne united most of Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. He is credited with spreading the rule of law throughout his dominions as well as starting the French and German monarchies.

President Andrew Johnson pardoned Confederates

On December 25, 1868, President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all who had been involved in "insurrection or rebellion" during the US Civil War.