Torture touchdown: Shannon is a source of shame

AFTER the recent Amnesty International report, there can be no doubt Shannon is being used by those involved in kidnapping and torture as part of the so-called war on terror.

In the report, Khaled al Maqtari, who was held without charge in secret CIA prisons for more than two-and-a-half years, describes a regime of beatings, sleep deprivation, upside-down suspension, intimidation by dogs, induced hypothermia and other forms of torture. Shannon airport was used as a refuelling stop by the plane that took him from Baghdad, where he was initially arrested, to Kabul where he was incarcerated in a CIA ‘black site’ prison.

Amnesty believes that at least 36 prisoners are still held in the secret prison network. And the planes still go through Shannon, possibly transporting these or others to the torture bases.