By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
SKOPJE, Macedonia – A German citizen who has alleged he was abducted and tortured as part of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program began a legal battle against Macedonia last week. Khaled el-Masri claims he was abducted in 2003 from Macedonia, and then transferred to a secret prison in Afghanistan where he says he was interrogated and tortured. El-Masri is seeking official recognition of his ordeal from the Macedonian government.
According to el-Masri, he was vacationing in Macedonia in December 2003 when his passport was confiscated at the border. He says that he was detained for 27 days in Macedonia before being flown to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan where he was interrogated and abused for five months before being abandoned on a road in Albania.
The current court case in Macedonia is estimated to take up to two years. El-Masri is seeking $69,000 in compensation and an apology from the Macedonian government on the grounds that Macedonia sanctioned his abduction and then blocked investigations into the matter. One of el-Masri’s lawyers in Macedonia said, “[t]o start with, it would be good if Macedonia at least apologizes to el-Masri.”
In October, the European Court of Human Rights communicated a case to the Macedonia government, asking it to answer questions regarding el-Masri’s abduction. That was the first time the court asked any European countries to answer for its alleged role in the CIA-led rendition program.
Macedonian officials have denied any involvement in el-Masri’s abduction. However, there is recent evidence that some officials in Macedonia were dedicated to keeping the el-Masri case out of the news and the court. In a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Skopje released by Wikileaks, then-Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski is cited as promising the US ambassador that he would continue to stonewall local press requests to discuss the el-Masri case.
The current case in Macedonia is the latest development in a string of failed attempts to hold someone accountable for what was done to el-Masri. El-Masri filed suit in the US in 2007, but the case was never heard in court due to the risk of revealing “state secrets.” In 2007, Germany issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA operatives suspected of involvement in the el-Masri abduction, but Germany has since dropped pursuing the matter, allegedly because of pressure and thinly-veiled threats from the US. In 2009, a public prosecutor in Macedonia ruled there was not enough evidence to pursue a criminal trial in the matter.
According to sources of the Washington Post and NBC News at the time, el-Masri’s abduction was a case of mistaken identity, and the CIA agents who allegedly abducted el-Masri thought he was an al-Qaeda affiliated man with a similar last name of al-Masri. A former CIA official told the Washington Post that the CIA analyst who pushed for el-Masri’s rendition “didn’t really know. She just had a hunch.” According to sources of the Washington Post and NBC News, the CIA realized its mistake after holding el-Masri for two months, but continued to hold him for three additional months until then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice twice ordered him released.
According to a report released on Wednesday by the Associated Press, the lawyer who signed off on the el-Masri rendition was formally reprimanded by the CIA, and she is currently the advisor to the Near East division. The CIA analyst who pushed for el-Masri’s rendition never received a formal reprimand from the CIA. She has since received a promotion, and currently runs the CIA unit that leads U.S. counterterrorism efforts.
For more information, please see:
AP – AP IMPACT: At CIA, grave mistakes, then promotions – 9 Feb. 2011
TPM LIVEWIRE – CIA Officials Involved in Abuse and Wrongful Detention Rarely Reprimanded, Sometimes Promoted – 9 Feb. 2011
AP – German sues over alleged CIA kidnapping, torture – 2 Feb. 2011
AFP – Macedonian hearing over rendition flights opens – 2 Feb. 2011
SPIEGAL ONLINE – Cables Show Germany Caved to Pressure from Washington – 9 Dec. 2010
HARPER’S MAGAZINE – The El-Masri Cable – 29 Nov. 2010
WASHINGTON POST – Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake — 4 Dec. 2005
NBC News – CIA accused of detaining innocent man – 21 April 2005
