Guantánamo prisoner pleas with Sturgeon to help discover ‘truth’ of rendition

Saifullah Paracha has been held at Guantanamo since 2004 without charge.

The oldest prisoner in Guantánamo Bay has written to Nicola Sturgeon to demand she help “uncover the truth” of the CIA’s use of Scottish airports for so-called extraordinary rendition flights.

Saifullah Paracha, who has been detained at the prison facility in Cuba for nearly 16 years, said he was “shocked” to learn that a plane he was transported on may have refuelled in Scotland.

The 72-year-old has been held at Guantánamo since September 2004. He has never been charged with a crime during his time in custody, let alone stood trial, and human rights lawyers and academics claim a CIA jet he was flown on refuelled at Glasgow Airport.

Now, with his health failing after suffering two heart attacks, he has called on the first minister to press the UK government to ensure Police Scotland and the Crown Office gain access to a classified US report into the alleged practice.

However, the Scottish Government has said it would be “inappropriate” to do so, given a Police Scotland investigation is ongoing.

In an emotive letter, Paracha said it was vital to establish the “full truth” of what happened to him.

“After being detained without charge or trial for so long, one of my remaining wishes is that nothing like this happen to anyone else ever again,” he has written to Sturgeon. “I hope you and the Scottish people will play their part in this.”

It comes as a long-running investigation by Scottish authorities into the CIA’s use of Scottish airports - now in its seventh year - has been repeatedly thwarted by the US Senate’s refusal to pass on a classified report into the practice.

The 2014 report by the Senate Intelligence Committee into the rendition and “enhanced interrogation” programme run by George W Bush’s administration ran to 6,700 pages, but only a redacted 525 page excerpt was released.

Amid fears the existing copies could be destroyed by the Trump administration, Paracha has urged Sturgeon to intervene, pointing out that “only a fraction of the information” relating to his torture and rendition is available to Scottish authorities.

“The US government has yet to agree to disclose this to Scottish police, and it seems that the UK government has done little to ensure that this vital evidence is turned over,” he explained.