Extraordinary rendition

Extraordinary rendition, also called irregular rendition, is the government-sponsored abduction and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one country to another.

In the United States, the first well-known rendition case was that of an airline hijacker abducted in Italy and brought to the U.S. for trial, authorized by President Ronald Reagan. President Bill Clinton authorized extraordinary rendition to nations known to practice torture, called torture by proxy. The administration of President George W. Bush "renditioned" hundreds of so-called "illegal combatants" (often never charged with any crime) for torture by proxy, and to US controlled sites for an extensive torture and interrogation program under the euphemism enhanced interrogation. Extraordinary rendition continued with reduced frequency in the Obama administration: instead of subjecting them to torture, most of those abducted have been conventionally interrogated and subsequently taken to the US for trial.

Rendition

Rendition may refer to:

See also

Extra Ordinary

"Extra Ordinary" is a song by American alternative rock group Better Than Ezra. It was released in July 2001 as their first single from their album Closer. It was also featured in a McDonald's television commercial that aired during the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Content

Lead singer Kevin Griffin told the LAUNCHcast website that the song is about the simple things in life: "I wanted to write lyrics that kind of encapsulated a picture of the current events of my life or anybody's life and just use very common visual images like 'soap on a rope' and 'smart as Bobby Fischer.' You know, it's about just spending the day with somebody you love and hanging out with really no agenda at all. And just being happy."

In a 2002 article from the Baton Rouge Advocate, drummer Travis McNabb said of the band's decision to use the song in a commercial: "They called us and said they wanted to use it in an ad....We were like, 'Is it gonna be Ronald McDonald running around chasing the Hamburglar or something?' But when we found out the concept of the ad, it sounded like a good fit. Ultimately, it's just more exposure for the music and for the band. We've gotten a great response from it. It's funny, though, how in the past five to seven years everyone's view of that sort of thing has changed. It used to be that any kind of sponsorship would be harshly judged by music fans and critics."

Mamdouh Habib

Mamdouh Habib is an Egyptian and Australian citizen with dual nationality, best known for having been held for more than three years by the United States as an enemy combatant, by both the CIA and military authorities. He was sent by extraordinary rendition from Pakistan to Egypt after arrest, in violation of international law. He was held the longest at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as an enemy combatant. Finally released without charges in January 2005, Habib struggled to have his account of his experiences believed, as he alleged he had been tortured by the CIA, Egyptians, and US military, at times with Australian intelligence officers present. For some time, each of the governments denied his allegations, but they have gradually been confirmed.

Arrested after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 during a trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Habib was interrogated there by Pakistani and the United States CIA agents before being shipped by extraordinary rendition to Egypt, where he was held for six months and interrogated more under torture. The CIA transferred him back to a black site in Afghanistan for more torture and interrogation, then to US military custody. In 2002 Habib was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He continued to be held without charges and suffered coercive interrogation.

University of Kent

The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC or Cantuar. for post-nominals) is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1965 and is recognised as a plate glass university. It is a member of the Santander Network of European universities encouraging social and economic development,Association of Commonwealth Universities and Universities UK.

The university has a rural campus north of Canterbury situated within 300 acres (1.2 km²) of park land, housing over 6,000 students, as well as additional sites in Medway and Tonbridge in Kent and European postgraduate centres in Brussels, Athens, Rome and Paris.

In 2014 the university was ranked 80th in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in Top 100 Universities Under 50 Years. Additionally, Times Higher Education also ranked the university 20th in the United Kingdom in 2015 though aggregating multiple ranking results into a comprehensive table of ranking tables. It is among a group of institutions to consistently score 90% or above for overall satisfaction in the National Student Survey. In 2013, nearly 28,000 students applied to the university through UCAS and 5,190 accepted offers of places. The average UCAS score achieved by entrants in 2014/15 was 363.