Human Rights lawyer and legal director of Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith, met with the Scottish Government in August, together with representatives of Amnesty International, Liberty and Reprieve. He presented them with evidence that Scottish airports are being used to assist the CIA to transport untried civilians to secret bases across the world, where they are tortured. The Firm exclusively publishes the case put forward by Stafford Smith at that meeting, while Justice Minister Kenny macAskill accepts our offer to answer the charges.

Clive Stafford Smith

Rendition is only kidnapping – there is no other word for it. It is taking someone against their will from the place they are at to another country without going through any legal process. That’s called kidnapping. If people come through Scotland and you have reason to suspect that is what they are up to and you do nothing about it, then there are serious criminal law issues.
There is one crime that has absolutely, categorically been committed here in Scotland, and Scotland has an obligation to prosecute. When Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was rendered from Pakistan to the secret prison in Poland, the corporation that was doing the work logging the flight falsified the flight logs, to try to keep secret where the prison was. We can prove that. That plane came through Scotland and filed a false flight log here in Scotland. That is a criminal offence. It is a totally prosecutable crime here in Scotland.
There were 37 flights through here going to Jordan, 25 going through here that went to Egypt. They are taking Americans to take part in torturous interrogations.
The reality is that international law is not helping them at all. The court of public opinion is far more important to our clients than any court of law. For the moment there is no court of law that is ordering the release of these guys.
It makes no sense to say that Scottish people should be liable for criminal prosecution because they are reckless about planes going through to commit crimes, yet under the Scotland Act they have no power to stop it. There are issues here that militate strongly in favour of Scotland being given more power, if only because you can’t hold people legally responsible without giving them the power to prevent this.

Kenny Macaskill

I have listened with interest to what Mr Stafford Smith has to say. I intend to pass on the information given to me to the Lord Advocate.
This government has made absolutely clear our opposition to illegal rendition flights and also how seriously we take allegations regarding offences of attempting or conspiring to commit torture being committed in Scotland or Scottish airspace.
There are clear laws in Scotland that have to be upheld. Equally there are values that must be upheld. We expect citizens and non-citizens alike to uphold both our laws and our values.
Civil aviation is a reserved matter and is the responsibility of the United Kingdom government, but attempts to commit torture are crimes under Scots law and it is for the police to investigate allegations of such offences and for the procurator fiscal to decide whether to bring proceedings.
Clearly, the appropriate authorities can only act on the basis of evidence so if any individual or organisation has evidence of criminal offences being committed within Scottish jurisdiction, we would urge them to make it available to the police.”