News

Ex-CIA detainee runs amok

German man of Lebanese origin sent to psychiatric hospital after attacking a market.

RICHMOND, VA - NOVEMBER 28: Khaled El-Masri talks about his captivity at the hands of U.S. agents after leaving the The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit after the court heard arguments in the case of "El-Masri v. Tenet" November 28, 2006 in Richmond, Virginia. El-Masri is a German citizen who was on vacation in Macedonia when he says he was "unlawfully abducted, detained and abused by the CIA under its rendition program." (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Human rights campaigners used el-Masri's story to call for an end to CIA "renditions" [GALLO/GETTY]
Published On 18 May 2007
El-Masri had been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to the entrance of the market after having destroyed its glass door, a police statement said.
 
Smoke and water caused around $680,000 in damage.

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.

Source: News Agencies