Complicit in torture

INVESTIGATIONS by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe in 2006 have already revealed that the Irish Government facilitated the US extraordinary rendition programme, which resulted in torture of many prisoners in Guantanamo and elsewhere, by allowing US military and CIA aircraft to refuel at Shannon airport.

The recent exposures by Wikileaks confirm that Dermot Ahern in his capacity as Irish Foreign Minister informed US Ambassador Foley that he was “quite convinced” at least three such rendition flights had used Shannon. Irish Government ministers have repeatedly stated that there was no evidence of CIA planes using Shannon, and also stated that they fully accepted US Government assurances that the airport was not used to facilitate so-called extraordinary rendition. This indicates our ministers knowingly misinformed the Irish people, and more seriously, were complicit in torture in contravention of the UN Convention Against Torture.

Dr Edward Horgan