A GROUP of British MPs is suing the CIA in the American courts in an attempt to force the agency to hand over information about Britain’s secret involvement in its extraordinary rendition programme.
In a case thought to set a legal precedent, the group, led by Conservative MP Andrew Terry, is to file a complaint in a district court in Washington today seeking a judicial review of the agency’s failure to disclose the information.
The MPs from the all-party UK parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition have made requests to the CIA, FBI and the department of homeland security over the last 12 months, under US freedom of information legislation, seeking more information about Britain’s role in rendition.
Hundreds of pages of documents have been disclosed but Mr Terry said the specific information he requested had not been revealed. “The current drip-drip of information on rendition is hugely damaging. It is in everyone’s interests that the truth on the US rendition programme comes to light. Bringing this litigation . . . represents a globalisation of accountability for two of the world’s leading democracies. I hope that this ground-breaking litigation will lead to comprehensive disclosure in the US. Only then can we give the public confidence that we have got to the bottom of rendition and British involvement in it.”
The MPs want to learn more about the use of British airports and airspace, about agreements between the US and the UK on rendition, the use of Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian Ocean, and about the transfer of detainees from British to American hands. They have demanded information about specific detainees, including two rendered through Diego Garcia, and others whom British special forces in Iraq handed over to US forces, and who were then flown to Afghanistan.
The MPs have submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to UK government departments. Most are now with the Information Commissioner’s office, pending appeals against the government’s refusal to disclose the information.
Similar requests, regarding prisoner exchange deals, are to be made of Australian government departments.
Mr Terry has made a series of allegations about Britain’s involvement in the programme since he established the all-party group four years ago. “Each allegation was categorically denied,” he said. “Each has subsequently been admitted.”