- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken by the Scottish Criminal Record Office to identify mark Y7 from the Marion Ross murder scene of January 1997.
Answer
Mark Y7 is on the Scottish FingerprintService Latents Database (which is the database of unsolved crime scene marks).This database is checked regularly against fingerprints taken from arrested persons.Because the mark was taken from the scene of a serious crime it will remain on thedatabase until it is identified.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will identify and publish all the reports that it or the Lord Advocate have commissioned in the last 10 years in respect of the veracity or reliability of fingerprint identifications provided by the Scottish Criminal Record Office.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-23155 on 20 March 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.In relation to reports publishedby the Lord Advocate, I have asked the Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC to respond. Hisresponse is as follows:
I do not hold a central recordof reports commissioned in response to challenges to fingerprint evidence.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23155 by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006, whether John MacLeod, the author of the MacLeod reports referred to in the answer, has been asked whether he would agree to his reports being published; if so, what his response was, and, if not, whether the Executive will consider seeking his agreement to publish the reports as soon as possible.
Answer
Mr MacLeod has indicated thatit is for the Executive to decide whether or not to waive confidentiality and topublish any report given by him. For the reasons given in my answer to questionS2W-23155 on 20 March 2006, I do not propose to publish any reports commissionedfor the purpose of the civil action brought by Shirley McKie.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23669 by Cathy Jamieson on 13 March 2006, what evidence it has that the misidentification was made in good faith and was not malicious.
Answer
Lord Hodge accepted in his opinionon 30 March that there was conflicting evidence from independent experts over thematch between fingerprint Y7 and Ms McKie’s print and in those circumstances itwas reasonable for Scottish ministers to maintain that the identification by SCROofficers had been made in good faith and was not malicious.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23750 by Cathy Jamieson on 8 March 2006, why has it refused to state what the purpose has been of its internal discussions regarding the matter of US agencies using Scottish airports as refuelling stops for flights allegedly involved in the process of “extraordinary rendition” other than those “in relation to the answering of parliamentary questions and other enquiries”.
Answer
As I made clear in my answerto question S2W-21574 on 22 December 2006, our internal discussions have focused on the handlingof parliamentary questions and other enquiries. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23831 by Cathy Jamieson on 16 March 2006 where it states that it “has not approved and will not approve a policy of facilitating the transfer of individuals through Scottish territory or airspace to places where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would face a real risk of torture”, whether it will now discuss with Her Majesty’s Government the matter of CIA flights landing in Scotland, given that the original question did not pertain to whether it granted permission for such transfers to occur through Scotland but whether it would establish whether they happened at all.
Answer
Officials have discussed withUK Government Departments the allegations that Scottish airports have been usedfor the transportation of US prisoners to countries where they might be subjectedto torture (so-called “extraordinary rendition”). The position remains as set outin my response to question S2W-20910, answered on 7 December 2005. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.Since then, the Foreign Secretaryset out the UK Government’s position in detail in a Written Ministerial Statement on 20 January 2006, including that:
The UK Government found no evidenceof detainees being rendered through the UK or Overseas Territories since 11 September 2001.
It found no evidence of detaineesbeing rendered through the UK or Overseas Territories since 1997 where there were substantial grounds to believethere was a real risk of torture.
There were four cases in 1998where the US requested permission to render one or more detaineesthrough the UK or Overseas Territories. Records show the Government granted the US request intwo of these cases, and refused the request in the other two.
The Government is clear thatthe US would not render a detainee through UK territory or airspace (includingOverseas Territories) without the UK Government’s permission.
In one of the two 1998 cases,in June 1998, a flight carrying Mohammed Rashid landed at Prestwick en route tothe United States, where he was due to stand trial. He was charged for bombing aPan Am aircraft in August 1982. He pleaded guilty to murder in December 2002 andis due to be sentenced shortly.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23752 by Cathy Jamieson on 15 March 2006, why it had nothing to add to its previous answer to question S2W-22493 given that question S2W-23752 sought different information.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-23994 on 16 March 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23914 by Cathy Jamieson on 15 March 2006, how this answer indicates whether it, rather than the police, has received any “specific, credible information” supporting any allegation that US agencies have used Scottish airports as refuelling stops for flights engaged in the process of “extraordinary rendition”.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-23994 on 16 March 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been required to contribute to any UK submission to the inquiry by Senator Marty into allegations that the CIA has illegally abducted and transported terror suspects across European borders.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has astrong record in contributing to the UK Government’s response to routine and adhoc inquiries by international bodies on a variety of subjects, including torture.We also seek actively to develop our relationship with international human rightsbodies independently of any inquiries.
The current European inquiriesabout extraordinary rendition are focused on matters that are reserved to the UKGovernment. For this reason, in the case of Senator Marty’s questions, the UK Governmentin formulating its answers did not require any contribution from the Executive.Should Senator Marty, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe or the EuropeanParliament’s temporary committee request information about devolved policies orpractice, the Executive will be very happy to provide it.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-23748, S2W-23831, S2W-23835 and S2W-23994 by Cathy Jamieson on 16 March 2006 and given that the Executive has stated that it “has not approved and will not approve a policy of facilitating the transfer of individuals through Scottish territory or airspace to places where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would face a real risk of torture”, whether it will instigate an inquiry into the allegations that US agencies have facilitated such transfers using the process known as “extraordinary rendition” through Scottish airports, given that these allegations suggest that no approval was given to facilitate these transfers and thereby are in contravention of the Executive’s stated position.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is clearthat no enquiry can be undertaken in response to unsubstantiated allegations.
Should information come to lightwhich the police regard as credible and reliable and indicating that criminal offencesmay have been committed, the police would be responsible for conducting an investigation.At present, no such information exists.
