Rendition Circuit: 9-15 January 2002
Rendition of Mohammed Saad Iqbal Madni, Indonesia to Egypt (via Diego Garcia)
On 10-11 January 2002, Mohammed Saad Iqbal Madni was rendered from Jakarta, Indonesia, where he had been detained in the early hours of 9 January at the request of the CIA. He was transferred on board the CIA's own Gulfstream V jet with the registration number N379P, and flown to Egypt where he was tortured for three months before being rendered again to Afghanistan, and then finally Guantanamo Bay. The aircraft stopped for refuelling en route between Indonesia and Egypt, landing on the British island of Diego Garcia with Madni on board.
- Click here for more on Mohammed Saad Iqbal Madni’s detentions and treatment.
- Click here for more on N379P.
Analysis
N379P left its home base of Johnston County Airport (KJNX) in the afternoon of 9 January, just several hours after Madni had been arrested in Jakarta. It flew first to Washington Dulles International Airport (KIAD), where it stayed for just over an hour. It then flew direct to Cairo, landing in the middle of the night. The aircraft disappears from the flight records at this point, reappearing six days later on 15 January, where it leaves Cairo in the morning and flies to Glasgow Prestwick (EGPK), Washington and then on to Johnston County, arriving just before midnight.
Although there are no flight records documenting the whereabouts of N379P between 9-15 January, other evidence points to this aircraft having flown from Egypt (where it had landed to pick up Egyptian agents) to Indonesia in order to pick up Madni, before returning to Cairo with Madni onboard, stopping off for fuel in Diego Garcia on the way. Madni has testified that he was put onto a plane in the evening of 10 January and taken to Egypt. Indonesian officials speaking to the Washington Post have stated that this aircraft was a Gulfstream V jet, matching the description of N379P.
Madni has testified that he was bleeding from his mouth, ears and nose, and was shackled so tightly that he couldn’t move. After 5-7 hours in the air, the aircraft stopped for 30 minutes, during which time he was photographed but kept on the plane. It then took off again, flying for a further 3-4 hours before landing in Cairo in the morning of 11 January. Analysis conducted by Reprieve has demonstrated that the stopover location was almost certainly Diego Garcia. This matches with the flying times provided by Madni, the distances involved, and the known speed of a Gulfstream V. It is also confirmed by a letter from the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband to Reprieve's Director Clive Stafford Smith in February 2008, where he admitted that a ’plane with a detainee on board had refuelled in Diego Garcia in January 2002. There is no other known detainee transfer at that time whose route would have taken them via Diego Garcia, meaning that it is highly likely that the detainee in question was Madni.
Once N379P landed in Cairo on 11 January, it stayed on the ground until for four days before heading back to the US. Madni himself has testified that masked men were present during a series of long interrogations by Egyptian agents on 11-12 January. These masked men did not speak, but passed notes with questions to the Egyptians. It is therefore possible that these men were part of the renditions team who had transferred Madni to Egypt, and who left the country onboard N379P on 15 January.
