Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

information with you [Libyan security service].” The fax also says that the CIA was “at a
delicate point in [its] discussions with the Malaysians” and therefore asks that the Libyans
temporarily “cease any further engagement” with the Malaysian government until the CIA
has “custody of Sadiq” or has judged that the Malaysians are “unwilling to cooperate with
the U.S. government.” 286
Two days later, on March 6, the CIA sent the Libyans another fax saying that Belhadj and
his “pregnant (4 months) wife” would be leaving Kuala Lumpur on the evening of March 7,
on a commercial flight to London via Bangkok, corroborating Bouchar’s belief that her
captors knew she was pregnant. 287 The CIA said it planned to take custody of the couple in
Bangkok, and that it was “vital” that a Libyan security officer be present to accompany the
couple on the flight from Bangkok to Libya. 288
Also on March 6, the CIA sent another fax, with the subject line “Schedule for the Rendition
of Abdullah al-Sadiq,” to Libyan intelligence. 289 It details the flight plan for the aircraft that
was supposed to pick up Belhadj and his wife and take them to Libya. The fax informs the
Libyan intelligence service that the flight will leave Washington, DC Dulles International
Airport on March 6/7, make a stop in Tripoli and refuel on March 7, then fly to the Seychelles,
where it will remain overnight. Then on March 8, it will leave the Seychelles for Bangkok,
where it will refuel, presumably pick up Belhadj and his wife, and fly to Tripoli, with a stopover
for half a day in Diego Garcia (a US naval air base in the British Indian Ocean Territory). 290
The fax asks the Libyans to make sure their officers “have the proper documentation for [the
Seychelles], otherwise they will not be allowed to leave the aircraft.” 291
286 Tripoli Document 2174.
287 Tripoli document 2172, a fax from the CIA to the Libyan intelligence service.
288 Ibid.
289 Tripoli Document 2171.
290 Ibid. Representatives of the British government denied that Diego Garcia played any role in the global rendition program,
including in meetings with Human Rights Watch, but later, after confronted with evidence, apologized and admitted that in
fact two rendition flights had refueled there in 2002. Colin Brown, “Official apology after CIA ‘torture’ jets used UK base,” The
Independent, February 22, 2008, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/official-apology-after-cia-torture-jetsused-uk-base-785596.html
(accessed July 25, 2012). There was no mention at the time of the 2004 Belhadj or Saadi
renditions, and the government Foreign Office has declined to comment further. Cobain, “Special report: Rendition ordeal
that raises new questions about secret trials,” The Guardian; See also “Abdel Belhadj: The rendition flight,” The Telegraph,
April 18, 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9210950/Abdel-Belhadj-the-rendition-flight.html (accessed July
23, 2012).
291 Tripoli Document 2171.
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