Legal advice sought by an all-party parliamentary group, which meets for the first time today, concluded that the British Government would be guilty of breaking international law if it allowed secret flights to use UK airports, it was reported last night. Academics from New York University said: "A state which aids or assists another state in the commission of an internationally wrongful act by the latter is internationally responsible for doing so." The British Government has insisted that there is nothing wrong with the CIA flying planes through British airspace, and admits that it does not know or ask whether there are any prisoners on the flights. According to The Washington Post, the US Government has pressed Berlin not to complain about the CIA's wrongful alleged kidnapping and imprisonment of Khaled Masri, a German who says he was abducted in Macedonia and tortured at a US base in Afghanistan. Despite the controversy, the US State Department believes that there is little appetite among European governments to take on the US over its tactics in the war on terror.
The British Government has insisted that there is nothing wrong with the CIA flying planes through British airspace, and admits that it does not know or ask whether there are any prisoners on the flights.
According to The Washington Post, the US Government has pressed Berlin not to complain about the CIA's wrongful alleged kidnapping and imprisonment of Khaled Masri, a German who says he was abducted in Macedonia and tortured at a US base in Afghanistan.
Despite the controversy, the US State Department believes that there is little appetite among European governments to take on the US over its tactics in the war on terror.
