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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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July 17th,
2006 - U.S. Rejects German Prosecutor’s Request in CIA Abduction Case |
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U.S.
Rejects German Prosecutor's Request in CIA Abduction Case Bloomberg By Claudia Rach July 17, 2006 July
17 (Bloomberg) -The U.S. turned down a German request for legal assistance
over an alleged abduction by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency of a German
of Lebanese origin, the Justice Ministry in Berlin said. “Legal
assistance has been rejected with regard to the civil proceedings in the
U.S.,'' the ministry's spokeswoman Eva Schmierer said in an interview today,
pointing out that the U.S. “didn't take a stand on the context of the
matter.'' The request was made by the Munich prosecutor's office. A
U.S. federal judge threw out Khaled el-Masri's lawsuit against the CIA on May
18, arguing that airing claims by el-Masri in court would mean disclosing
confidential information. The suit, filed in December last year, said former
CIA Director George Tenet and other agency officials authorized agents to
kidnap el-Masri on Dec. 31, 2003. El-Masri
said he was seized while on holiday in Macedonia and transported to a secret
CIA prison in Afghanistan. There he was subjected to inhumane conditions and
coercive interrogation before being released again, he said. The
Munich prosecutor's office said on Dec. 5, 2005, it had begun preliminary
investigations into allegations el-Masri had been deprived of his liberty.
The prosecutor asked justice authorities in Macedonia, Albania, the U.S. and
Spain to confirm el-Masri's statement. El-Masri's
alleged abduction is also part of a German parliamentary inquiry set up on
April 7 and which is also examining whether the BND Federal Intelligence
Service provided intelligence to the U.S. at or around the time of the
invasion of Iraq in 2003; whether the Federal Criminal Police Office
questioned terror suspects being held abroad; and the issue of alleged CIA
flights carrying suspected terrorists through European airspace, a process
known as extraordinary rendition. External link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aodxnxLbwEww&refer=germany |