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Report: Azerbaijan and Georgia Cooperated with the CIA's
Secret-Detention Program
February 6, 2013 - 7:20am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Azerbaijan was an important stopover point for secret detainees of the
Central Intelligence Agency in the US war on terror, claims a new
report that offers the first comprehensive look into human rights
abuses under the US practice of secret detentions and extraordinary
renditions of terror suspects.
Reminiscent of a global spy conspiracy novel, the report, "Globalizing
Torture," [5] details how, post-9/11, the US relied on countries
around the world to "kick the [expletive] out of" various terror
suspects wanted by the CIA.
Azerbaijan and Georgia were among 54 countries that cooperated with
these operations, according to the report, which was compiled by the
New-York-City-based Open Society Foundation's Open Justice Initiative.
[EurasiaNet.org is financed under the separate auspices of the
Foundation's Central Eurasia Project.]
`Aircraft linked to the CIA landed in Azerbaijan 76 times between the
end of 2001 and the end of 2005,' the report reads. `The Azerbaijani
capital, Baku, is reported to have been used as a common `staging
point' for extraordinary rendition operations, meaning that planes and
crews would often meet and prepare there.'
Azerbaijani officials allegedly did some detaining of their own;
namely, a Saudi man, Ahmed Muhammad Haza al-Darbi, who allegedly was
arrested in Azerbaijan in 2002 and handed over to the CIA, which then
transferred him to the formerly US-run Bagram prison in Afghanistan,
where he was kept for two weeks, and subjected to various forms of
abuse.
Before Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili took office in 2004,
Georgia, the most eager US partner in the Caucasus, also allegedly
captured and handed over to the CIA several terror suspects,
apparently linked to Chechen rebel training in the Pankisi Gorge.
After a stint at Guantanamo or other locations, these detainees were
`extraordinarily rendered' to prisons in Jordan, Egypt and
Afghanistan. Not just the Georgian authorities, but even the country's
notorious thieves-in-law seem to have played a role; namely, with the
alleged kidnapping and dispatch of an Algerian man from Pankisi.
Neither Georgia, nor Azerbaijan is known to have investigated their
cooperation with the CIA program of secret detention and extraordinary
rendition. The report does not mention if the detainees were tortured
in Georgia [6] or Azerbaijan; [7]both countries have an established
reputation for prison torture, human-rights activists say.
Report: Azerbaijan and Georgia Cooperated with the CIA's
Secret-Detention Program
February 6, 2013 - 7:20am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Azerbaijan was an important stopover point for secret detainees of the
Central Intelligence Agency in the US war on terror, claims a new
report that offers the first comprehensive look into human rights
abuses under the US practice of secret detentions and extraordinary
renditions of terror suspects.
Reminiscent of a global spy conspiracy novel, the report, "Globalizing
Torture," [5] details how, post-9/11, the US relied on countries
around the world to "kick the [expletive] out of" various terror
suspects wanted by the CIA.
Azerbaijan and Georgia were among 54 countries that cooperated with
these operations, according to the report, which was compiled by the
New-York-City-based Open Society Foundation's Open Justice Initiative.
[EurasiaNet.org is financed under the separate auspices of the
Foundation's Central Eurasia Project.]
`Aircraft linked to the CIA landed in Azerbaijan 76 times between the
end of 2001 and the end of 2005,' the report reads. `The Azerbaijani
capital, Baku, is reported to have been used as a common `staging
point' for extraordinary rendition operations, meaning that planes and
crews would often meet and prepare there.'
Azerbaijani officials allegedly did some detaining of their own;
namely, a Saudi man, Ahmed Muhammad Haza al-Darbi, who allegedly was
arrested in Azerbaijan in 2002 and handed over to the CIA, which then
transferred him to the formerly US-run Bagram prison in Afghanistan,
where he was kept for two weeks, and subjected to various forms of
abuse.
Before Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili took office in 2004,
Georgia, the most eager US partner in the Caucasus, also allegedly
captured and handed over to the CIA several terror suspects,
apparently linked to Chechen rebel training in the Pankisi Gorge.
After a stint at Guantanamo or other locations, these detainees were
`extraordinarily rendered' to prisons in Jordan, Egypt and
Afghanistan. Not just the Georgian authorities, but even the country's
notorious thieves-in-law seem to have played a role; namely, with the
alleged kidnapping and dispatch of an Algerian man from Pankisi.
Neither Georgia, nor Azerbaijan is known to have investigated their
cooperation with the CIA program of secret detention and extraordinary
rendition. The report does not mention if the detainees were tortured
in Georgia [6] or Azerbaijan; [7]both countries have an established
reputation for prison torture, human-rights activists say.