Iceland, along with 24 other European nations, may face prosecution from the European Court of Human Rights in light of its cooperation with the CIA in the years spanning 2001 – 2007, RÚV reports.
As The Grapevine reported yesterday, Iceland regularly permitted CIA airplanes to make use of Icelandic airspace or airports while the U.S. intelligence firm was engaging in extraordinary rendition operations involving suspected terrorists following 9/11. While the presence of prisoners aboard planes landing in or flying over Iceland was never confirmed by Icelandic officials at the time, it is still in violation of international law to allow such flights entry to airspace and access to airports.
Among the European countries named in the Open Society Justice Institute report on global involvement in the extraordinary rendition project, a handful are already being investigated, The Guardian reports. Macedonia has been found guilty of illegally imprisoning and torturing a German national, and legal proceedings are being launched against Poland, Romania and Lithuania for allowing the CIA to operate secret prisons within their boarders.
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Iceland Participated in CIA Extraordinary Rendition