Planes believed to be chartered
by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have landed at the Sola
Airport outside Stavanger as many as 15 times since 2003, reports local
newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad.
It's also believed that
the planes, officially owned by Aviation Specialties Inc of the US,
have landed for refueling at airports in Bergen and Evenes as well. A
report to the European Parliament in 2006 claimed that Aviation
Specialties is a subsidiary of the CIA.
The latest landing
occurred earlier this month, and it once again set off protests because
the flights are believed to be carrying terror suspects captured in the
Middle East to prisons and military bases in the US.
Jon Peder
Egenæs, secretary general of Amnesty International in Norway, told
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Wednesday that Norway must get to the
bottom of claims of illegal prisoner transport.
Egenæs said the
left-center Norwegian government coalition, which likes to think of
itself as a champion of human rights, will have a severe credibility
problem if it is in fact allowing landings of planes carrying out
illegal prisoner transport.
Norway's foreign ministry claims it
has been assured by American officials that no prisoners are on board
the flights. Human rights activists want to see for themselves, or have
trusted Norwegian officials go on board when the next plane lands.
So
do some members of one of the government coalition partners themselves.
Politicians for the Socialist Left (SV) party, a member of the
government, claim the debate has been much too mild on the issue, and
suggest that the government and foreign ministry are being naïve.
"We
tend to rely too much on close allies, and there's no reason to in this
case," said SV's defense spokesman, Bjørn Jacobsen. "Human rights may
be being violated, and Norway can't support that."