What is "extraordinary rendition"

n. (context US English) The sending of untried criminal suspects to countries outside the USA for interrogation or imprisonment.

Extraordinary rendition, also called irregular rendition, is the government-sponsored abduction and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one country to another. It is almost exclusively carried out by the United States government, often with the collusion of other countries: overall, 54 countries are known to have been involved with US extraordinary renditions.

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 for torture by proxy, and to US controlled sites for an extensive torture and interrogation program under the euphemism enhanced interrogation.Bush administration increased renditions

• Greenwald, Glenn. Senate Report Links Bush to Detainee Homicides; Media Yawns, Salon.com, 15 December 2008.
• "Senate Panel's Report Links Detainees’ Murders to Bush's Torture Policy" The Public Record, 30 April 2009.
• Barnes, Greg and Miller, Julian. "Senate Report Says Rumsfeld to Blame for Detainee Abuse" Los Angeles Times, 12 September 2008. Extraordinary rendition continued with reduced frequency in the [[Barack Obama|

Obama]] administration: instead of subjecting them to torture, most of those abducted have been conventionally interrogated and subsequently taken to the US for trial.Obama administration renditions

Extraordinary rendition is considered an unambiguous violation of international law. The United Nations considers one nation abducting the citizens of another a crime against humanity. Abduction has also been a recognized casus belli (justification for war) in the Western tradition since Helen of Troy, over 3000 years ago. In July 2014 the European Court of Human Rights condemned the government of Poland for participating in CIA extraordinary rendition, ordering Poland to pay restitution to men who had been abducted, taken to a CIA black site in Poland, and tortured.

Extraordinary Rendition is a 2007 drama film directed by Jim Threapleton and starring Omar Berdouni and Andy Serkis, known for his role in The Lord of The Rings. The film was premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland on 8 August 2007, and at the Edinburgh Film Festival on 21 August 2007, but is still awaiting a full commercial release. It was released on DVD in early 2008, and screened by the BBC on 30 April the same year.

eXtraOrdinary rendition is the debut album of Rupa & the April Fishes, released April 15, 2008 on the Cumbancha label. It includes influences such as Argentinian tango, Gypsy swing, and Indian ragas. The title is a reference to the practise of torture by proxy, or extraordinary rendition.