Combating
terrorism is one of the most emphasized measures and strategies by the United
States law enforcement agencies as well as intelligence agencies. Various
legislations and programs have got formulated and enacted to safeguard the
lives of American citizens not only in America but around the world. Rendition
and extraordinary rendition is a vital counterterrorism tool used by the US
government in collaboration with foreign governments to wipe out notorious
terrorists around the world. This paper discusses the use of rendition and extraordinary rendition for counterterrorism, its history, and legal
controversies. The paper also discusses significant successes of the
counterterrorism tool such as capture and detention of Khalid Shaikh Muhammed
(KSM) and Abu Zubaydah, as well as extraordinary botched renditions such as
Khaled al-Masri and Omar Nasr.
Introduction
Rendition refers
to the secret transfer of terror suspects from one state to another, by means
that bypass all judicial as well as administrative due process. The terror
suspects mainly get transferred into the custody of other nations such as
Egypt, Jordan, and Syria where there is physical and also psychological
brutality feature prominently in interrogations. In the war against terror,
rendition mainly got initiated by the United States intelligence agencies
–although it is not exclusive- and gets implemented with the collaboration,
complicity or acquiescence of other governments. The persons get transferred
into US custody and may finally get moved into detention centers located in
Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan, or black sites that are secret
facilities operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. The primary objective
of rendition practice is to gather adequate intelligence from suspects and also
to keep detainees away from any judicial oversight. Extraordinary rendition
refers to the apprehension and forced the transfer of people from a country to
another, outside the legal process of law and presents a high risk of torture,
inhuman treatment or degrading treatment to the person. The definition as
mentioned above of extraordinary rendition conforms to the Council of Europe’s
working definition that reflects the European Convention on Human Rights
(ECHR). The practice is extraordinary as a counterterrorism measure because it
circumvents official legal structures and processes to arrest, detain and
transfer suspected terrorists. The undertaking of extraordinary rendition
programs requires extensive evaluation of the totality of circumstances before
an extraordinary rendition operation gets permitted. The intelligence agency
relies on diplomatic assurance from the host governments that hold a good human
rights record. Subsequent monitoring of the suspected persons rendered to
foreign states so as to ensure that the transfers comply with the American and
international law.
The scope of
rendition around the globe is tough to estimate due to the level of secrecy
that surrounds the practice and also the many victims that have disappeared
mysteriously. Families in these nations do not report the missing individuals
to law enforcement agencies as they fear that intelligence officers may turn
their focus on them. In 2005, Egypt’s Prime Minister stated that the United
States had transferred approximately 60-70 detainees to custody in Egypt alone,
and a former CIA agent stated that there had been hundreds of detainees sent by
the US to custody in the Middle East (Committee on Foreign Affairs House of
Representatives, 2007). After the occurrence of the terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center on 9/11, hundreds of individuals suspected to be part of
terrorist groups/activities to foreign jurisdictions have got transferred
through extraordinary rendition. America agencies have received numerous aids in
its rendition programs from European nations that have enhanced the transfers
and from the states they receive and detain terror suspects. The European
nations have adopted a policy referred to as “see no evil, hear no evil” in
which they facilitate rendition flights using their territory airspace, and
others get involved in individual cases. Several agents from the European
nations have also participated in the apprehension of terror suspects or the
interrogation of detainees. The foreign intelligence agencies in Europe that
participate in the rendition program operate covertly outside the rule of law
and without accountability. In addition to the United States and European
countries, various other nations have got involved in the rendition process.
They include the governments of Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Jordan that have
received rendition suspects and subjected them to torture, indefinite
detentions as well as disappearances must also get held to account for the
violation of rights of persons in their custody.
The suspected
terror suspects get seized in respective countries by local authorities in the
particular nation at the behest of officers from the CIA, Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) or the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). The suspects then
get handed over to the US intelligence agency who use US assets to transport
the terror suspect to various destinations around the globe. Some of the
suspects, however, get destined for known prisons in the host nations; however,
others get held in “black sites” that get operated by the United States
administration in the foreign countries. This measure is significant in
obtaining sensitive information from terror suspects and also in pulling out
terrorists off the streets.
The use of
rendition and extraordinary rendition measures for counter-terrorism get
supported by the United States governments. President Obama issued executive
orders to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to grant them the authority to
undertake renditions, secret abductions and also transfer prisoners to nations
that collaborate with America (Miller, 2009). The CIA has the authority to
detain and interrogate terror suspects in their aim of keeping the country
safe. These measures had been effective in the war on terror for several years
hence the Obama administration could not afford to dispense it. The decision
did not receive from criticism from the general public, among human rights
groups or any other organizations. Through these measures and interrogations,
intelligence agencies in the US have obtained valuable information about Al
Qaeda and other terrorist-related groups and activities. The former US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice together with the former President of US
Bush, have acknowledged the rendition as getting conducted as a matter of
policy, and also a vital component in US counterterrorism strategy (Boon &
Lovelace, 2010).
History of rendition and
extraordinary rendition
For many
decades, America and other nations have used renditions to transport terrorist
suspects from the nation where they got captured to their home nations or
others where they got held, questioned, or brought to justice. President
Reagan’s administration used rendition practice to bring people to justice in
the US. The bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the bombing of a federal
building in Oklahoma City, and also the subway attack in Tokyo set the stage
for the United States to implement effective strategies to fight and prevent
terrorism around the world. President Bill Clinton, who was the president in
1995, stated that terrorism is a potential threat to national security and
criminal act; hence, it was necessary to combat it with all appropriate means.
President Clinton’s administration used rendition to transfer detainees to
third world countries where they were wanted for terrorism offenses. After the
September 11 terrorist attack, the Bush administration redefined the goals of
the rendition practice to the emerging and increasing terrorist threat.
President Bush signed secret directives “that is the memoranda of
notifications” on September 17, 2001, that authorized the CIA to engage in
extraordinary rendition of suspected terrorist activities even without adequate
and proper approval by the government and due process. This new measures led to
increased transfer of aliens, detention of terrorists and interrogation without
the prospect of any formal charges. Other tactics that got adopted to
strengthen the combating of terrorism was forceful interrogations so as to
pre-empt future attacks. Further, the attorney for the Department of Justice,
John Yoo wrote a memorandum justifying the President’s authority to utilize
broad powers during a time of war., therefore, removing the intense debate
regarding the extraordinary rendition program concerning the interrogation of
terror suspects in different parts of the globe. The United States government
and intelligence agencies insist that the program gets designed for a limited
number of cases involving only the most dangerous terrorists and other
individuals believed to have crucial information that includes knowledge of
planned terrorist attacks. The ability of US and the agencies to render a
person a suspected terrorist to a foreign state is crucial in strengthening and
safeguarding national security because it enables enhanced information sharing
from the foreign state. Criticism has however emerged claiming that the
rendition program entails torture and human rights violation.
Legal controversies of rendition
and extraordinary rendition
The government
followed domestic and international law in creating the legislation so as to
safeguard the nation and also create accountability to protect human rights.
The major extraordinary rendition controversy is to human rights concerns and
possible torture. De Frias, Samuel & White (2012), states that
extraordinary rendition is one of the most systematic, sophisticated and
shocking human rights violations in the so-called “war on terror.”
Extraordinary rendition practice entails severe violations of many international
norms, giving rise to state and personal responsibility under the international
law and the appropriate remedy and reparation.
The management
and implementation of the extraordinary rendition policy have created
significant opposition from human rights activists. For instance, Ramzi Yousef,
a perpetrator of the bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993 was a target of
the US rendition program. However, Yousef’s rendition and conviction
encountered opposition since the moral imperative of free society is to offer
adequate security and safeguard its citizens against threats such as terrorism.
The human rights groups did not like the disappearance of individuals on ghost
planes without getting charged with crimes they committed and detailed indefinitely.
Before the September 11 terrorist attacks, few suspected international
terrorists had got detained and delivered to the US. However, the attacks led
to increased aggressive actions to combat terrorism; thus, rendition became
public when exposed by inquisitive journalists. In 2004, the CIA director
George Tenet testified before the 9/11 commission that only an estimated
seventy total renditions had occurred before the World Trade Center bombing in
2001. It later got determined since then the US administration seized and
transferred persons to countries where torture was common in their detention
facilities, thus lead to the naming of the policy as outsourcing of torture. In
2006, the UN Committee against Torture called on the American government to stop
the rendition of suspects as well as stop detention in secret detention
facilities under its de facto effective control, since such actions led to the
violation of the convention against torture (Tan, 2013). International law also
prohibits the transfer of detainees to nations that have a significant risk of
torture or ill-treatment. The extraordinary rendition operations were dependent
on collaboration and planning between America and other countries so as to
ensure secret capture, detention and also the transport of detainees. It is,
however, a violation of international law.
Successful extraordinary renditions
cases
Since the
occurrence of the 9/11 bombings on the World Trade Center, there have been
various successful extraordinary renditions as described in this section. The
extraordinary rendition practice led to the apprehension and detention or
prosecution of various notorious terrorists that include Khalid Shaikh Muhammed
(KSM), Abu Zubaydah, Ibn Shaikh al-Libi, Walid Bin Attash, Muhammed Saad Iqbal
Madni, and Encep Nuraman.
A.
Khalid
Shaikh Muhammed (KSM)
KSM, a self-proclaimed
mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States that lead to the
death of 2996 people (including the perpetrators), got detained in Rawalpindi,
Pakistan on March 1, 2003. KSM was a notorious terrorist and Al-Qaeda operator
with known association with Usama bin Ladin and Ramzi Yousef. Before his
arrest, KSM was wanted by the US agencies for over fifteen years. At the time
of his arrest, KSM was the head of Al-Qaeda operational planner, military
committee leader as well as media operations director for Al-Shabaab. The
arrest of KSM leads to evasion of possible attacks he had planned against the
US as well as yielded vital intelligence for the intelligence agencies
regarding the leadership structure of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. The
rendition of KSM and subsequent detention gets considered by the United States
as a significant achievement towards combating terrorism and blow to the
Al-Qaeda.
B.
Abu
Zubaydah (The Facilitator)
Abu Zubaydah, a
known Al-Qaeda affiliate and operational planner, got apprehended in
Faisalabad, Pakistan on March 28, 2002. As an Al-Qaeda facilitator, Abu was
responsible for facilitation of the movement of top radical Islamic ideologues
around the world with the aim of supporting training and group’s mission.
Zubaydah was the overseer of the Khalden group of terror training camps
situated in the Afghanistan.
Botched Extraordinary Renditions
Several of the
extraordinary renditions by US intelligence agencies with the collaboration
with foreign governments have got mistaken, and two cases get described in this
section.
A.
Khaled
al-Masri (A public relations failure)
Among the most known
public failures of the program is the capture and detention of Khaled al-Masri,
a Lebanese-born German citizen and car salesman captured in Macedonia in
January 2004 (Robinson, 2008). The detention of Al-Masri quickly escalated the
calling of stopping of rendition by its critics. Masri arrested while on
vacation later got released in Albanian without explanation or any criminal
charges. Al-Masri, who has since returned to German and filed a case against
the US government, was simply a victim of mistaken identity representing nearly
a third of the erroneous renditions of the program. The case attracted
criticism and attention from the press, the German Government and American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The US government has since is yet to account for
its mistakes in the Masri case.
B.
Omar
Nasr (Abu Omar): Shoddy Tradecraft
Omar got
detained in Milan in 2003 and flown to Egypt through the US airbases in Italy
and Germany. Omar had received a refugee status in Italy since he believed that
his return to Egypt would lead to mistreatment. The sloppy tradecraft of US officials
helped the Italian investigators to unravel the whole Omar extraordinary
rendition, starting with the capture of Omar. The Italian government convicted
twenty-two of the suspected US officials and a US Air Force officer in absentia
in November 2009.
References
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at
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