when the plane carrying former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet bypassed the Island on its way back to Santiago.

But last night a spokesman for the local branch of Amnesty International said that had alleged mass murderer landed here, it would have been Bermuda's "moral and legal obligation'' to detain him.

Sources in Santiago said last night the Chilean Air Force Boeing 707 had stopped to refuel in Ascension Island, a remote British territory in the South Atlantic. The aircraft left England yesterday morning after British authorities released Pinochet.

The same plane spent two weeks on the Island last January after being dispatched from Chile to pick Pinochet up following UK Home Secretary Jack Straw's announcement that he was "minded'' to release him on compassionate grounds. The Immigration Department announced last month that it had placed Pinochet on the stop list as a precautionary measure.

But last night, while applauding that move, local Amnesty International spokesman Ayo Johnson said Bermuda could have taken more far-reaching actions if the general had indeed landed on the Island.

"Bermuda's status as a colony of Britain does not in our view impede it from doing its part to ensure that justice is delivered to suspected perpetrators of crimes against humanity,'' he said. "Indeed it is Bermuda's moral and legal obligation to do so.'' He added that the Island was party to the Convention Against Torture and has an independent judicial system. Mr. Johnson urged Government to closely examine international conventions so that it does not get caught off guard if ever a similar situation arises again.