10 April 2013
The New York Times reports that the first person killed by a US drone attack, in 2004, was victim of a secret deal, under which the C.I.A. had agreed to kill him at the request of Pakistan. The victim, Mr. Muhammad, was not a top operative of Al Qaeda, but a Pakistani ally of the Taliban who led a tribal rebellion and was marked by Pakistan as an enemy of the state. The C.I.A. agreed to kill him in exchange for access to airspace it had long sought, in order to be able to use drones to hunt down its own enemies.
Source: The New York Times | A Secret Deal on Drones, Sealed in Blood
15 January 2013
On 13 December 2012, it was announced that the United Kingdom (UK) agreed to pay 2.2 million pound to Mr. al-Saadi, a Libyan dissident who was forcibly transferred together with his family from Hong Kong to Gaddafi’s Libya in 2004, where Mr. al-Saadi was imprisoned and tortured.
The al-Saadi family argued MI6 was ‘instrumental in their kidnap’ and claim their rendition was a ‘joint UK-US-Libyan operation.’ Documents saying the UK helped to organise the rendition were found in the office of Gaddafi’s spy chief in Libya after the overthrow of Gaddafi. The UK government confirmed the settlement, but stated there was ‘no admission of liability and no finding by any court of liability.’
Source: BBC | UK pays £2.2m to settle Libyan rendition claim
Source: Al Jazeera | UK pays $3.5m to settle Libya rendition claim
15 December 2011
At Lawfare, Robert Chesney notes an decision of the UK Court of Appeals (Civil Division) of 14 December that raises interesting questions of shared responsibility. The case is Yunus Ramhmatullah v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs et ano. The Court, by an opinion of the Master of the Rolls, held that a Pakistani man (Yunus Rahmatullah) held by the US military in Afghanistan may pursue a habeas corpus petition against the UK’s Secretary of State for Defence and for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. (more…)