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Britain broke law if it allowed secret CIA flights
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-05 17:13

Britain broke international law if it allowed secret flights operated by the US CIA to land on its soil, according to an expert report to be discussed in parliament Monday, the Guardian daily said.

Simply allowing planes carrying detainees in the US "war on terror" to refuel in Britain would be a breach of the law, according to the opinion framed by New York University experts commissioned by a non-partisan parliamentary group.

"A state which aids or assists another state in the commission of an internationally wrongful act by the latter is internationally responsible for doing so," the newspaper quoted the report as saying.

The all-party group set up in September on the issue of rendition -- transferring detainees to countries where they can be questioned outside the protection of US law -- will meet for the first time in parliament on Monday.

It is probing allegations that CIA flights had transited at least 210 times through British civilian and military airports since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The left-leaning newspaper also published five photographs of planes "believed to have been operated by the CIA through 'front' companies."

The controversial flights by the US Central Intelligence Agency, the US secret service, are expected to dominate a European tour this week by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

She was to arrive in Berlin late Monday and meet with Germany's new Chancellor Angela Merkel early Tuesday.

Press reports began emerging in February that detainees stopped at European airports en route to third countries known to practice torture -- such as Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Syria.



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