What is rendition really like?

From the report by a former Swiss prosecutor for the Council of Europe, which monitors human rights in 46 European nations.

Page 22, section 85 of the report, describes the general characteristics of preparing a detainee for a rendition flight, based on the testimony of victims. One American intelligence source said that within 20 minutes "a detainee is transformed into a state of almost total immobility and sensory deprivation".

I. It generally takes place in a small room (a locker room, a police reception area) at the airport, or at a transit facility nearby.

II. The man is sometimes already blindfolded when the operation begins, or will be blindfolded quickly and remain so throughout most of the operation.

III. Four to six CIA agents perform the operation in a highly-disciplined, consistent fashion - they are dressed in black (either civilian clothes or special 'uniforms'), wearing black gloves, with their full faces covered. Testimonies speak, variously, of "big people in black balaclavas", people "dressed in black like ninjas", or people wearing "ordinary clothes, but hooded".

IV. The CIA agents "don't utter a word when they communicate with one another", using only hand signals.

V. Some men speak of being punched or shoved at the beginning of the operation in a rough or brutal fashion; others talked about being gripped firmly from several sides.

VI. The man's hands and feet are shackled.

VII. The man has all his clothes (including his underwear) cut from his body; an eye-witness described how "someone was taking these clothes and feeling every part, you know, as if there was something inside the clothes, and then putting them in a bag".

VIII. The man is subjected to a full-body cavity search, which also entails a close examination of his hair, ears, mouth and lips.

IX. The man is photographed with a flash camera, including when he is nearly or totally naked; in some instances, the man's blindfold may be removed for the purpose of a photograph.

X. Some accounts speak of a foreign object being forcibly inserted into the man's anus; some accounts speak more specifically of a tranquilliser or suppository being administered per rectum - in each description this practice has been perceived as a grossly violating act that affronts the man's dignity.

XI. The man is then dressed in a nappy or incontinence pad and a loose-fitting "jump-suit" or set of overalls; "they put diapers on him and then there is some handling with these handcuffs and foot chains, because first they put them on and then they are supposed to put him in overalls, so then they have to alternately unlock and relock them".

XII. The man has his ears muffled.

XIII. Finally a cloth bag is placed over the man's head, with no holes through which to breathe or detect light; they "put a blindfold on him and after that a hood that apparently reaches far down on his body".

XIV. The man is typically forced aboard a waiting aeroplane, where he may be "placed on a stretcher, shackled", or strapped to a mattress or seat, or "laid down on the floor of the plane and they bind him up in a very uncomfortable position that makes him hurt from moving".

XV. In some cases the man is drugged and experiences little or nothing of the actual rendition flight; in other cases, factors such as the pain of the shackles or the refusal to drink water or use the lavatory make the flight unbearable.

XVI. In most cases, the man has no notion of where he is going nor the fate that awaits.