The Irish Anti-War Movement

From ireland.com 15:45
Friday, 14th March, 2008

Ireland is contravening international law by allowing its territory to be used to facilitate extraordinary rendition, Amnesty International has claimed.
The human rights group based its allegation on a report into the case of a Saudi man who was held without charge in secret CIA prisons for over two-and-a-half years.

An Amnesty report into his case found that Shannon airport was used as a refuelling stop by the plane that took him from Iraq - where he was initially arrested - to Kabul, where he was incarcerated in a CIA prison.
At the beginning of his 32-month confinement, Mr al Maqtari was taken to Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. After nine days of interrogation in Abu Ghraib, he was taken by plane to a secret CIA detention facility in Afghanistan, were he was held for a further three months. Flight records obtained by Amnesty International corroborated that a jet allegedly operated by a CIA front company left Baghdad International Airport nine days after his arrest, heading for Khwaja Rawash airport in Kabul.

"This same jet, registered at the time as N379P, had left Shannon Airport on January 20th, 2004 en route to Baghdad where it collected Mr al Maqtari," Mr O'Gorman said.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman told ireland.com that the report's findings were being examined and a statement would be issued    later.