28 March 2012
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ACLU Appeals
Case of German Man (Khaled El-Masri) Kidnapped by CIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 25 July 2006
CONTACT: Paul Silva, (212) 549-2689 or 2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today announced
that it has filed an appeal on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, an
innocent German citizen who was kidnapped by the CIA and transported
to a secret Afghan prison where he was detained and abused. A
lower court previously dismissed the suit after accepting the
CIA's argument that further court proceedings would disclose
"state secrets."
"Depriving Khaled El-Masri of his day in court on the ground
that the government cannot disclose facts that the whole world
already knows only compounds the brutal treatment he endured,"
said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner, who will argue the appeal before
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond.
"Secret government kidnappings and detentions outside the
law have no place in a free democracy. If this decision stands,
the government will have a blank check to shield even its most
shameful conduct from accountability."
This appeal comes on the heels of news reports that another man,
an Algerian named Laid Saidi, was also abducted by the CIA and
detained in the same Afghan facility as El-Masri. Saidi and El-Masri
were held in nearby cells and Saidi has confirmed many of the
allegations made by El-Masri in his complaint.
The landmark lawsuit charges that former CIA Director George
Tenet violated U.S. and universal human rights laws when he
authorized agents to abduct El-Masri, beat him, drug him, and
transport him to Afghanistan. The corporations that owned and
operated the airplanes used during the rendition are also named
in the case. The CIA continued to hold El-Masri incommunicado
long after officials discovered they had abducted the wrong man.
Five months after his abduction, El-Masri was released on a hill
in Albania during nighttime, without any explanation and without
ever having been charged with a crime. His wife and children
were never informed of his whereabouts during the ordeal.
While accepting the CIA's invocation of the state secrets
privilege to dismiss the case, Judge T.S. Ellis III acknowledged
that "if El-Masri's allegations are true or essentially
true, then all fair-minded people, including those who believe
that state secrets must be protected, that this lawsuit cannot
proceed, and that renditions are a necessary step to take in
this war, must also agree that El-Masri has suffered injuries
as a result of our country's mistake and deserves a remedy."
In a report released last month, the Council of Europe confirmed
that several European nations were aware of the CIA's policy
to abduct terrorism suspects and fly them to countries where
they may be tortured. The council's investigation included thousands
of records of flight plans of alleged CIA planes since 2001.
The records correspond with the accounts given by El-Masri and
other prisoners who say they were abducted by the CIA.
Last week, El-Masri shared his story at a panel before the United
Nations in Geneva. The U.N. Human Rights Committee is currently
reviewing the United States' compliance with the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a major international
human rights treaty ratified by the United States in 1992.
"What I am seeking is an acknowledgement that the CIA is
responsible for what happened to me, an explanation as to why
this
happened, and an apology," said El-Masri. "As a global
society, we must condemn the practice of rendition whenever we
see or hear of it."
A hearing dateon the appeal, filed late yesterday, has not yet
been set. El-Masri is represented by Wizner, Ann Beeson and Melissa
Goodman of the ACLU. Steven Watt is a senior human rights advisor
on the case.
Background and legal briefs in this case are online at
www.aclu.org/rendition.
Video of El-Masri's testimony before the United Nations is online
at
http://www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/gen/26157prs20060714.html
Background documentation on this case can also be found on
Statewatch's
Observatory on CIA flights and "rendition",
see documents numbers: 158-164 and 170.
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