MADRID: Nearly 50 flights to or from the controversial US “war on terror” camp at Guantanamo Bay used Spanish air space between 2002 and 2007 and 11 landed in Spain, the El Pais daily reported Monday.
El Pais cited figures supplied by the airport management body AENA, part of the transport ministry, to Madrid-based judge Ismael Moreno. Moreno is investigating at least 10 CIA-chartered flights which landed in the Balearic islands between January 2004 and January 2005 and which are suspected of having been used for the CIA’s “rendition” strategy.
This involves flying terrorist suspects through European states to detention in third countries. Amid allegations of the use of torture, the US treatment of the suspects has been widely criticised. The US administration insists that the “rendition” programme is legal however. afp