Amnesty > Public misled on suspected torture flights using Shannon

CABLES uncovered by whistle-blowers Wikileaks reveal that Ireland's then Foreign Affairs Minister believed US rendition flights taking prisoners to or from torture centres had transited Shannon, Amnesty International Ireland has said. Despite this, the Irish Government has always insisted there was not enough evidence to warrant proper investigation.

Amnesty has repeated its call for an independent investigation into the use of Shannon Airport by suspected rendition flights operated by the CIA.

Colm O’Gorman, Amnesty International Ireland’s Executive Director, said:

It is now undeniable that the Irish Government knew rendition flights transited Ireland and that they knew this breached the legally binding convention on torture. Yet they did nothing.

This stunning disregard for people’s lives and the rule of law is unconscionable.

Our Government was prepared to ignore our role in kidnap and torture for the sake of maintaining good relations with the United States Government. They did this despite grave public concern about the issue. We’ve no reason to believe that anything has changed.

Amnesty International’s comments come in response to the latest cables released by Wikileaks. Amnesty said:

The 2004 document shows how the Irish Government’s legal advisers believed that if planes used Shannon in an itinerary that also included transporting prisoners then Ireland would be complicit in torture. Yet continuous ministerial statements in the Dáil asserted that aircraft that used Ireland as a staging post were not engaging in illegal activity.

Colm O’Gorman went through the history of this activity:

In 2004 the Government knew it was at risk of breaching legally binding treaties if it allowed planes involved in rendition circuits to use Shannon.

Ministers repeatedly advised the Dáil that these flights were not illegal. These assertions only stopped in June 2006 after the Council of Europe and the Irish Human Rights Commission stated that such aircraft were conducting illegal activity.

In December 2005, when asked about CIA planes using Shannon Airport, the Minister for Foreign Affairs asked for evidence to be presented. In response, Amnesty International submitted evidence that six planes used by the CIA for renditions had involved 50 landings at Shannon airport. Yet the Minister continued to insist that there was not enough evidence to justify an inquiry.

The Wikileaks cable from 2007 reveals that Minister Dermot Ahern himself believed rendition flights had transited Shannon.

Despite personal reservations, legal opinion, political opposition, public outcry and unimpeachable evidence, the Government put diplomatic relations with the US above the rule of law.

We have repeatedly called for an independent investigation into the use of Shannon Airport. This investigation must also make clear who knew that we were complicit in torture and why they failed to act.