Researchers looking at the use of CIA-linked planes for prisoner transfers in the war on terror have found "conclusive" evidence of landings at Scottish airports.
An extensive database on so-called rendition flights compiled by a university team refers to 13 stops at Aberdeen, Wick and Inverness.
One aircraft that landed at Wick in 2004 has been "logged flying to secret prison and torture destinations", the researchers said.
The findings were made in work by two academics, Dr Ruth Blakeley at the University of Kent and Dr Sam Raphael at Kingston University in London.
The use of Prestwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh as a stop-off on journeys often linking the US and Middle East was already identified in their online database.
Five flights landed at Wick, a further five at Inverness and three at Aberdeen, according to the research.
The north and north-east links were not previously considered "suspicious" by the team, but were highlighted for further investigation after details of flight paths emerged.
"The Rendition Project database provides conclusive evidence that airports in the north of Scotland were visited by CIA planes at the height of the rendition and secret detention programme," Dr Raphael said.
It cannot be established if the planes had prisoners on board, only that aircraft were linked to rendition flights in the past.
The academics said rendition flights involve the transfer of suspects to locations abroad where they may have been tortured.
Their database has tracked more than 11,000 flights by more than 120 aircraft linked by past investigations to renditions.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government does not believe such flights could ever be in accordance with domestic or international law, and we would not expect such consent to ever be granted."
A spokeswoman at Aberdeen Airport declined to comment. No-one could be reached immediately for comment at Highlands and Islands Airports, which operates Wick and Inverness.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article