Judge Seeks 'CIA Flight' Details

Taken from Al-Jazeera News Agency, 31.01.07

A Spanish judge has called for the declassification of all documents held by the country's secret services concerning CIA flights which have passed through Spain, legal officials have said.

The CIA's strategy of "rendition" involves flying terror suspects through European states to detention in third countries where they risk being tortured.

Ismael Moreno, a Madrid judge, presented the demand at the request of prosecutors from Spain's highest criminal court to find out if Spanish airports had been used by the CIA for the secret transport of 11 people.

The Spanish judge's investigation concerns 10 CIA-chartered flights through the Balearic islands between January 2004 and January 2005.

According to the text seen by AFP, he is seeking information concerning the suspected transport of Khaled el-Masri, Ahmed Agiza, Mohammed al-Zary, Hassam Oussama Mustafa Nasr, Bisher al-Rawi, Yamil el-Banna, Maher Arar, Muhammad Bashmila, Salah Ali Qaru, Mohammed Zammar et Binyam Mohamed al-Habashi.

European Union parliamentary inquiries into CIA flights through Spain have embarrassed the Socialist government, which denies that Spanish territory has been used for the illegal transfer of suspected terrorists.

The EU investigations called the Spanish Balearic archipelago an "important transit base" for the US intelligence agency.