LONDON: Aircraft used by the CIA for extraordinary rendition — the practice of sending detainees to camps, including Guantanamo Bay, where they were at risk of being tortured — passed through British airports on 73 occasions since 2001, the government disclosed on Friday. They included an aircraft which left Kabul and landed in Edinburgh in November 2002 before continuing its journey to Washington.

The aircraft, registered N85VM, landed at Guantánamo Bay on a number of occasions in 2002 and 2003, sometimes via the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean, a British overseas territory, according to flight records seen by the Guardian.

New details of aircraft known to be used by the CIA were disclosed by Alistair Darling, the transport secretary, in answer to a parliamentary question from Michael Moore, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman. Some of the aircraft landed here on their way to the Middle East. Mr Darling said none of the information held by his officials “provides evidence that these flights were involved in rendition”. He said that Britain had made clear to the US, “including in recent months”, that the government expected it to seek permission before rendering detainees via British territory and airspace.

Mr Moore said last night that the disclosures raised serious questions about the number and purpose of CIA flights through the UK. He added: “A fundamental question remains unanswered: has the UK government actually asked the US how many individuals have been rendered through Britain? If this hasn’t been asked, then why on earth not?” The Ministry of Defence admitted last week that two aircraft known to have been chartered by the CIA landed 14 times at RAF Northholt, west London, and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire between October 2003 and May 2004.

Gareth Crossman, policy director of the civil rights group Liberty said last night: “The government’s ongoing smoke and mirrors campaign, in which piecemeal information on these flights is grudgingly handed over, is baffling and in gross contrast to our obligations against torture.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service