Amnesty repeats criticism of Govt's attitude to CIA flights
Amnesty International has reiterated its condemnation of the Irish Government's attitude to CIA 'rendition' flights allegedly passing through Shannon Airport.
It is alleged that under the "extraordinary rendition scheme" scheme, suspected Islamic militants are effectively kidnapped by the CIA in countries throughout the world and transferred to secret interrogation centres where many have been tortured.
Peace activists have demanded that the Irish Government search the flights passing through Shannon in order to meet its international obligations to prevent torture.
However, the Government refuses to do so, saying there is no evidence that any detainees have been on board.
It says it accepts assurances from the Bush administration that no prisoners were on board the flights.
In a report published today, however, the Irish branch of Amnesty International say this is a breach of Ireland's obligations to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law.
The report, which is based on a seminar the two groups held in Dublin last month, says a state is not entitled to insist that there be clear evidence of a detainee on board before it decides to act.
It says the state must act when there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is a general risk to the human rights of certain passengers.
