Ex-CIA detainee runs amok
German man of Lebanese origin sent to psychiatric hospital after attacking a market.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper, quoted el-Masri’s lawyer, Manfred Gnjidic, as saying that el-Masri had had an argument with the market about an electronic device he had bought there earlier.
CIA imprisonment
El-Masri was captured by CIA agents while attempting to enter Macedonia on New Year’s eve 2003 after being mistakenly identified as an associate of the September 11 hijackers.
He was subsequently flown to a CIA-run prison known as the “salt pit” in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he said he was beaten and sexually abused during five months in captivity.
After his release in May 2004, German prosecutors ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents who were believed to have participated in his capture.
In March, a US federal appeals court refused to examine a lawsuit brought by el-Masri, ruling that the case could jeopardise national security by disclosing state secrets.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has said that the US had acknowledged making a mistake with el-Masri.