FORMER terrorist hostage Terry Waite has called for a full investigation "to find the truth" about alleged CIA ghost planes.

He made his plea after the Manchester Evening News revealed that the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, Michael Todd, is to investigate claims that "torture flights" have passed through British airports.

Liberty, the human rights group, wrote to a number of chief constables calling for an inquiry into suspected US "extraordinary rendition" flights.

It is claimed that 10 British airports have allowed CIA-chartered jets to land before travelling on with terrorist suspects to countries where torture camps are located.

As a result of the Liberty letters, the Association of Chief Police Officers ordered Mr Todd, a member of its Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee, to meet Liberty's director, Shami Chakrabarti, to make "an initial exploration of the issues".

On a visit to Manchester Mr Waite, who spent almost five years in captivity after travelling to Lebanon to try and negotiate the release of hostages, told the MEN: "I have heard allegations of torture and so-called rendition for a long time, going back to Guantanamo Bay.

Torture

"I am really alarmed that whilst we in Britain may not have committed acts of torture, we may have allowed this to happen, and not raised any protest.

"I speak as someone that has been tortured. It takes away the dignity of those that are being tortured and those that are committing it. It diminishes their humanity.

"Once a nation begins to condone it, by allegedly letting flights pass through with suspects on board, we are on a slippery slope. We need the fullest investigation and we need the truth."

Commenting on the current hostage crisis in Iraq, Mr Waite called for the release of Briton Norman Kember and three others. He said: "They should release him. He and the others are standing for peace.

"I opposed the war in Iraq, and I forecast it would cause trouble. We are in a mess, a big mess. The best way forward is for a government to be set up there and for the occupying forces to get out as quickly as possible."