AIH underlined that Tuzlak said what had been stated in an AIH report, namely that "the plane which in January 2004 transported German citizen Khaled el-Masri from Macedonia to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan, used twice, in the period between 2002 and 2005, also the airport in Dubrovnik".
AIH reiterated that their secretary had never said, including at yesterday's press conference, that an unlawfully arrested person had been aboard the plane which landed at Dubrovnik, let alone German citizen el-Masri.
Hina's editorial board established that Hina's news item incorrectly quoted Tuzlak and apologises to AIH.
Following is the corrected item:
ZAGREB, April 6, 2006 (Hina) - Amnesty International Croatia (AIH) has urged the government to promptly investigate claims by Amnesty International (AI) that the CIA twice used Dubrovnik airport for the transport of terror suspects.
AI on Wednesday released on its web site a report saying that the Boeing 737 plane which international humanitarian organisations claim the CIA used from 2002 to 2005 for the transport of terror suspects, landed at Dubrovnik airport twice.
"The plane which in January 2004 transported German citizen Khaled el-Masri from Macedonia to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan, used twice, in the period between 2002 and 2005, also the airport in Dubrovnik ," AIH secretary Edin Tuzlak reiterated AI's claims.
Tuzlak said that only the first part of the AI report had been published which read, among other things, that the United States had used private airlines as a front for the secret transport of terror suspects to countries where they could examine and mistreat them.
Commenting on claims that under international conventions a country has no right to check private noncommercial flights, Tuzlak said that the latest case of illegal transfer should be reason enough to start checking such flights. "Abductions, arrests and detention should be reason enough to start checking such flights".
Tuzlak also warned that Croatia had not fully answered a Council of Europe questionnaire about the activity of US agents on its territory. The questionnaire was returned to Croatia due to incomplete answers. The Foreign Ministry is expected to answer it today, Tuzlak said, adding that Friday was the last day by which Croatia had to send its answers.