“I was hung like slaughtered cattle, head down, feet up, hands tied behind my back, feet also tied together, and
I was exposed to electric shocks all over my body and especially the head… and in the nipples and
my genitals...” Abu Omar, describing his torture after his rendition to Egypt
Usama Mostafa Hassan Nasr, usually known as Abu Omar, was walking down a street in Milan, Italy, on 17 February 2003 when he was abducted. He was then handed over to US agents, taken to Aviano airbase in northern Italy and flown, via Germany, on a CIA-chartered jet to Cairo, Egypt. There he was secretly detained for 14 months. He says that he was tortured up to 12 hours a day for seven months. He was finally released in February 2007.
Abu Omar is one of many victims of the USA’s programmes of rendition and secret detention carried out in the context of the “war on terror”. The victims were detained and then transferred to the custody of another state, covertly and outside any judicial process, and transported to another country. Some have been transferred from US custody to countries where torture or other ill-treatment are routinely used; others were transferred to official US detention centres in Guantánamo Bay or in Afghanistan. Others were held in secret detention in so-called “black sites” operated by the CIA. All were held without access to their families or lawyers. All were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.
The extent of European states’ involvement in renditions and secret detention, long known despite official denials, has become increasingly clear as a result of numerous, painstaking investigations, including by Amnesty International.
That role has ranged from active participation to tacit collusion. European agents have detained suspects and turned them over to US custody without judicial process. Europe’s airports have been freely used by CIA-operated planes that have transported victims of rendition, hooded and chained, to interrogation and torture in locations around the world.
Between 2002 and 2005, Europe was host to CIA “black sites”. Victims of these programmes have been held in solitary confinement in undisclosed locations for years on end, conditions that violate the prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment. Furthermore, US authorities have acknowledged that the CIA uses a range of “enhanced interrogation” methods on detainees held in secret. In February 2008, the Director of the CIA confirmed that three detainees were subjected to the torture method known as “waterboarding” in secret detention in 2002 and 2003.
Amnesty International is calling on European states to:
Condemn rendition and secret detention as unlawful.
Investigate effectively, independently and impartially allegations of involvement of its agents or territory in renditions, secret detention or enforced disappearances.
Bring to justice anyone reasonably suspected of being responsible for human rights violations in connection with renditions, secret detention and enforced disappearance.
Ensure accountability of domestic and foreign intelligence agencies.
Prevent secret detention and renditions by introducing measures that include: only transferring individuals to the custody of another state, or facilitating such a transfer, if the transfer is carried out under judicial supervision, and ensuring that no one is forcibly returned to any place where they may be at risk of serious human rights violations.
Provide reparations for victims of rendition, secret detention and enforced disappearance.
For further information, see State of denial: Europe’s role in rendition and secret detention (EUR 01/003/2008).