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Khaled al-Masri kidnapped by CIA under false pretexts
German Khaled el-Masri, who was abducted to Afghanistan by the CIA for interrogation as a suspected terrorist, gestures during a Reuters interview in Ulm December 11, 2005. Masri, who is suing the CIA for false imprisonment, says he was seized while visiting Macedonia and flown to Afghanistan where he was beaten, held and questioned for five months (December 2003 to May 2004) in before being dumped in Albania. REUTERS/Alexandra Winkler
Dec. 12 (Al-Manar)--German citizen, Khaled al-Masri, who is suing the US Central Intelligence Agency for wrongful imprisonment and torture, casted doubt on a theory that his US captors confused him with an al Qaeda suspect of the same name.
US officials have said Masri was originally held because he had the same name as a man wanted for his probable involvement in the September 11 attacks.
But Masri and his lawyer said that the attacks were "not at all" a theme in the interrogations during his five months of captivity last year in Macedonia and Afghanistan, but instead, his questioners asked him in extensive detail about his contacts in his hometown.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier strongly denied any involvement by Berlin in the abduction of al-Masri.
++++++++++++++++
Al-Masakin News Agency
http://al-masakin.blogspot.com
US officials have said Masri was originally held because he had the same name as a man wanted for his probable involvement in the September 11 attacks.
But Masri and his lawyer said that the attacks were "not at all" a theme in the interrogations during his five months of captivity last year in Macedonia and Afghanistan, but instead, his questioners asked him in extensive detail about his contacts in his hometown.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier strongly denied any involvement by Berlin in the abduction of al-Masri.
++++++++++++++++
Al-Masakin News Agency
http://al-masakin.blogspot.com
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December 13, 2005
Khaled el-Masri … suing the CIA for wrongful imprisonment and torture.
Photo: Reuters
A German held by the US as a terrorist suspect in Afghanistan said on Sunday that his captors had asked him mainly about radicals in his home town, casting doubt on the US argument that he was mistaken for an al-Qaeda suspect of the same name.
Khaled el-Masri is suing the CIA for wrongful imprisonment and torture in a case that has drawn worldwide attention and prompted fresh criticism of US tactics in the war on terrorism.
US officials have said Mr Masri was originally held because of suspicions he had a false passport, and because he had the same name as a wanted militant.
A man with that name is mentioned in the report of the September 11 Commission in the US as an early contact of the Hamburg cell that went on to lead the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.
But Mr Masri and his lawyer, Manfred Gnjidic, said US interrogators in Afghanistan had never even asked him about an alleged meeting on a train between the other Masri and the Hamburg cell members referred to in the September 11 report.
The September 11 attacks were "not at all" the main theme of his interrogations during five months of captivity last year in Macedonia and Afghanistan, Mr Masri said. Instead, his questioners asked him in detail about contacts in his home town of Neu Ulm, hundreds of kilometres from Hamburg.
They knew a surprising amount about his friends and contacts and were particularly interested in his acquaintance with Reda Seyam, an alleged Islamist militant whom German prosecutors have been investigating since 2002 on suspicion of supporting a terrorist organisation.
"Reda Seyam drove a car that was registered to my wife. No else knew that," Mr Masri said. But the interrogators did know it, and "they asked me why I had made the car available to him".
Mr Gnjidic added: "They knew an unbelievable amount about his personal life, his surroundings, who he had contact with, who he went shopping with, who he'd lent his car to …
"There was no concrete accusation against him. He was exclusively asked about third persons."
Details of Mr Masri's captivity and interrogation have prompted questions in Germany about the motives for his detention, and how the Americans knew so much about him.
The Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, dismissed as "outrageous" a report that German security services had tipped off the CIA about Mr Masri, facilitating his kidnapping.
The weekly Der Spiegel said the CIA might have acquired its information from its own surveillance operation on Neu Ulm radicals. The CIA has declined to comment on Mr Masri's case.
The German Government faces mounting pressure to reveal if its own security officials knew of Mr Masri's plight while he was in prison, pressure fanned by Mr Masri's statements that one of his questioners in jail was a native German speaker who called himself "Sam".
Mr Masri said the man was tall, blond, with glasses and a goatee and would not say if he was working for the German Government.
Reuters