The numbers were the first thing that struck me: 19 individuals known to have been held as CIA prisoners in one of the black sites, 12 other prisoners known to have been rendered by the CIA to US military bases or foreign governments for detention and torture. Of these 131 people, 17 were designated by the CIA as High Value Detainees (HVDs), 39 were transferred out of CIA programmes to US military control at Guantanamo Bay, and, of those, 29 are still held on the island outside of the law.

39 of these people have been documented as having been subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation programme such as extensive sleep deprivation, stress positions and waterboarding. 26 were, by the CIA’s own standards, wrongfully detained in the programme.

There are 38 prisoners for which there is evidence complicity by one or more European State, whether that is the hosting of a black site, involvement in interrogations, the passing of intelligence to and from the CIA, or the use of airports for refueling during rendition operations.

23 people are listed on The Rendition Project website as having undergone extraordinary rendition and detention with British Government complicity.