Is There a CIA Prison on Diego Garcia?

Overhead view of Diego Garcia,looking south

20 October 2007

MPs are investigating rumours that the CIA has a secret prison on the tiny Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, a sovereign British territory

The tiny Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia is sovereign British territory but is home to about 3,200 US military personnel and civilian support staff. Just a few dozen Royal Marines and Royal Navy personnel are based there, writes Ian Cobain.

The Guardian reveals today that MPs on the all-party foreign affairs committee hope to find out if the reports that the CIA has a secret prison on the island are true.

The MPs will scrutinise the allegations that the CIA has been holding al-Qaida and Taliban suspects on the island.

Any firm evidence uncovered by the committee would be hugely embarrassing for the British government. It would also have potential legal repercussions, as it would leave the government open to accusations that it is complicit in illegal detention and torture.

So what is the evidence that detainees from the 'war on terror' have been held on Diego Garcia?

• Some form of American detention facility has existed on the island since at least 1983.

• Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star American general who is now professor of international security studies at West Point military academy, has twice spoken publicly about the use of Diego Garcia to detain suspects.

• Dick Marty, a Swiss senator who led a Council of Europe investigation into the CIA's use of European territory and airspace said he had received confirmation of the use of the island. He later said that he had received the assistance of some CIA officers during his investigation.

• A Gulfsteam executive jet, which has been linked by its registration number to several CIA prisoner operations is known to have flown from Washington to the island shortly after the capture of a leading al-Qaida suspect in September 2002.

• British officials re-designated a building on the island as a prison three months after the September 11 attacks.

• Inmates at Guantanamo say that fellow detainees have described being held, and beaten, on board prison ships.

• The United Nation's special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, has said that he has heard from reliable sources that the US has held prisoners on ships in the Indian Ocean.

British ministers say they have received "repeated assurances" from Washington that no detainees have ever been held there... which means the question has repeatedly been asked.

SOURCE: The Guardian