Reprieve uncovers evidence indicating German territory may have been used in rendition and abuse
06.10.06
Reprieve reveals unclassified information derived separately, independently and unprompted from detainees in Guantanamo Bay, indicating that German territory and airspace may have been used for the rendition and abuse of U.S. prisoners.
Evidence relating to the use of German territory and airspace for illegal rendition and abuse has so far been limited to an official investigation into the use of Ramstein airbase for the rendition of Abu Omar, and a spate of news reports documenting “suspicious stop-overs” at Ramstein airforce base and Rhein-Main airbase in Frankfurt.
Hassan bin Attash (Guantanamo ISN 1456), Guantanamo detainee and brother of alleged senior member of Al-Qaeda Waleed Tawfiq bin Attash, claims he was told by Jordanian torturers that Waleed was being held for interrogation at a U.S. prison at an airforce base in Germany. Hassan was 17 when he was seized in Pakistan on 10 September 2002. He was transferred to Afghanistan on 14 September, onto Jordan on 18 September 2002, to face interrogation about his older brother Waleed Tawfiq bin Attash, alleged to be a senior member of Al Qaeda, before being taken to Guantanamo Bay on 19 September 2004.
Binyam Mohamed (Guantanamo ISN 1458), British resident and Guantanamo detainee, was tortured for 18 months in Morocco, with information provided by the United States. During this time Binyam says he was told by Moroccan interrogators that Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, alleged Al-Qaeda number 2, was being held for interrogation at a U.S. prison at an airforce base in Germany. Binyam Mohamed is of Ethiopian origin and lived for 7 years in Kensington, London, where he had applied for political asylum. Khalid Sheikh Mohamed was relevant to Binyam Mohamed’s case because the U.S. was suggesting a link between Binyam Mohamed and Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, including a meeting between the two men on 3 April 2002 (allegations that Binyam Mohamed strongly denies).
Shaker Aamer (Guantanamo ISN 239), born 12 December 1966, is a British resident of Saudi origin. He lives in London, and is married with four British children – one of whom he has never met. He was seized in Pakistan and turned over to the Americans, who took him to Afghanistan. On 12 February 2002, late in the evening, he and 30 other prisoners were taken on a plane for Guantanamo. They stopped in Germany where, rather than simply refueling, they changed planes. The prisoners were blindfolded and shackled, but Shaker Aamer could see underneath his blindfold and hear people talking. The weather was cold and clear. The stop was in the early morning, around dawn. They arrived in Cuba mid-afternoon at roughly four p.m., on 13 February 2002. He is being held in Guantanamo Bay, and is not charged with any offence.
Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of the charity Reprieve, said: “All this secret abuse of prisoners is very dangerous. We call upon the German government to order an independent investigation. No democracy worthy of the name should be afraid of the truth. No democracy should be taking part in crimes.”
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