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   From: oO@oO.com   
      
   The case of Khalid al-Masri   
   German government complicit in the criminal activities of the CIA   
   By Elizabeth Zimermann and Ulrich Rippert   
   17 December 2005   
   After considerable hesitation and a string of excuses, three German   
   ministers made statements on Wednesday on the kidnapping of German citizen   
   Khalid al-Masri by the US secret service, the CIA. Foreign Minister   
   Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Social Democratic Party, SPD) gave a report to the   
   Foreign Affairs Committee, Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries (SPD)-who   
   occupied the same post in the previous government led by Gerhard   
   Schröder-answered questions in the Legal Affairs Committee, and Interior   
   Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) reported to the   
   Interior Committee.   
      
   However, all of the statements made by government representatives were aimed   
   above all at appeasement. The real questions involved were not even posed,   
   never mind answered. Germany's grand coalition, comprising the SPD, CDU and   
   CSU (Christian Social Union), is seeking to ride out the affair and try as   
   quickly as possible to ensure that the incident no longer dominates media   
   headlines.   
      
   Steinmmeier and Schäuble concentrated on rejecting claims that German   
   agencies were involved in the kidnapping of Khalid al-Masri. Both men   
   declared that extensive investigations have failed to indicate that the   
   activities of the CIA had relied on information from German security   
   sources. According to Wolfgang Schäuble, anyone who continued to encourage   
   such speculations and suspicions was acting in an irresponsible and highly   
   negligent manner.   
      
   Justice Minister Zypries stressed that she had done everything possible   
   within legal limits. Her ministry had taken up the case at a lower level in   
   June 2004 and at a leadership level since the beginning of 2005. The SPD   
   politician declared everything had been done "which was necessary according   
   to legal procedure."   
      
   All three ministers sought to give the impression that what was at stake was   
   a more or less everyday incident and that the main issue was merely to   
   clarify whether the appropriate ministerial level had responded correctly.   
      
   The fact is that a German citizen was abducted by the secret service of   
   another country, whisked away to a torture prison, and imprisoned and abused   
   over a period of months. From the time of the kidnapping up until today, and   
   although the incident involved fundamental issues of legality and national   
   sovereignty, the German government has shown not the slightest interest in   
   clarifying the case and demanding an explanation from the offending   
   government.   
      
   At the same time, European newspapers are full of reports that the CIA   
   regularly uses German air space and airports to transport prisoners, who   
   have been denied all legal rights, to other countries where, according to   
   many reports, they are liable to be tortured. Although such activities   
   constitute a blatant violation of German and international law, the German   
   government has not lifted a finger.   
      
   One need only imagine what would have happened if the intelligence agency   
   and state involved had not been the CIA and the American government, but the   
   secret service of Iran, Syria or Libya. The German government would have   
   been immediately informed-which in any event was very probably the case with   
   al-Masri-and the ambassador of the country concerned would have been   
   immediately summoned in order to deliver the sharpest diplomatic protest to   
   his government, including threats of consequences and sanctions.   
      
   However, because the offenders are the CIA and the US government, the German   
   government is treating the whole matter as if it were a minor offence and   
   have reacted in a thoroughly cowardly and submissive fashion. In doing so,   
   they make themselves the accomplice of actions that flagrantly violate   
   German and international law and can only be regarded as criminal.   
      
      
   The kidnapping and abuse of al-Masri   
      
   Investigations carried out by the public prosecutor's office in the case of   
   Khalid al-Masri confirm statements made by the lorry driver from the German   
   town of Neu-Ulm. On December 31, 2003, al-Masri was detained at the   
   Serbian-Macedonian border while traveling by bus on a vacation from Neu-Ulm   
   to Skopje. He was initially held for a period of three weeks in a hotel in   
   the Macedonian capital.   
      
   Three weeks later, on January 23, 2004, he was flown out to Afghanistan in   
   the company of CIA agents and held for four months in the notorious "Salt   
   Pit" secret prison. According to his account, on a number of occasions he   
   was violently assaulted, kicked and humiliated and subjected to a series of   
   interrogations. His wife and four children learned nothing of his   
   whereabouts. After endless interrogations, a hunger strike and constant   
   avowals of his innocence, al-Masri was finally flown back to Albania on May   
   28, 2004.   
      
   The CIA had evidently concluded that they had imprisoned the wrong man-i.e.,   
   a completely innocent person. On May 29, 2004, al-Masri was flown from   
   Tirana to Frankfurt-Main, and from there traveled to his family in Neu-Ulm.   
      
   Following his odyssey through Macedonia, Afghanistan and Albania, Khalid   
   al-Masri then undertook an equally demanding and arduous journey through the   
   legal and political jungle in Germany. Despite the obstacles placed before   
   him, he has made clear that he is not prepared to be intimidated or   
   discouraged by bureaucratic hurdles and the evident lack of interest shown   
   by politicians.   
      
   Determined to resist his mistreatment and clarify what had taken place, he   
   immediately lodged a complaint against his illegal abduction, abuse and   
   imprisonment after his return.   
      
   As well as instituting proceedings, his lawyer Manfred Gnjidic also asked   
   the SPD-Green government to intervene and clear up the injustice suffered by   
   his client. To this end, he sent three identical letters to the chancellery,   
   headed at the time by Frank-Walter Steinmeier (now foreign minister), the   
   Foreign Ministry, headed at the time by Joschka Fischer (the Greens), and   
   the Justice Ministry, headed by Brigitte Zypries.   
      
   Apart from a formal acknowledgement of receipt of the letters, government   
   sources remained silent. At the same time, however, the government went into   
   action. According to press reports, instructions were given to the German   
   Intelligence Service (BND) to check the information given by al-Masri, which   
   was subsequently confirmed to be largely correct. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung   
   reported (December 8, 2005), American secret service agents admitted that   
   the operation had gone out of control. At that point, "At the end of January   
   2005, the chancellor, the Foreign Office and the Federal Interior Ministry   
   were then probably informed."   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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