Parliamentary group challenging legality of UK aid to CIA rendition flights News
Parliamentary group challenging legality of UK aid to CIA rendition flights

[JURIST Europe] A UK parliamentary group comprised of members from all three major British political parties meets for the first time Monday to call for a formal inquiry into whether the British government has violated international law by aiding alleged CIA rendition flights. A report from the NYU Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) [institute website] commissioned by the All Party Group on Extraordinary Rendition [Guardian backgrounder] after reports surfaced of CIA 'ghost flights' being used to shuttle terrorist detainees [JURIST report] argues that the British government could be held liable as an accomplice to American wrongdoing under international law if it helped the flights transporting detainees in any fashion. The British Foreign Office has thusfar said it has no evidence that British territory has been used in US rendition operations. Read the CHRGJ report: Torture by Proxy: International law applicable to 'Extraordinary Renditions' [official PDF text; accompanying press release]. The Guardian has local coverage.

D. Wes Rist is Bureau Chief for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. He is based in the UK.

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