Khalid El-Masri

For the person with similar name mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report, see Khalid al-Masri.
Khaled El-Masri
Born (1963-06-29) 29 June 1963 (age 61)
Kuwait
NationalityGerman-Lebanese
Other namesKhaled Masri
Children6

Khaled El-Masri (also Khalid El-Masri[1] and Khaled Masri,[2] Levantine Arabic pronunciation: [ˈxaːlɪd elˈmɑsˤɾi, -ˈmɑsˤɾe], Arabic: خالد المصري) (born 29 June 1963) is a German and Lebanese citizen who was mistakenly abducted by the Macedonian police in 2003, and handed over to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While in CIA custody, he was flown to Afghanistan, where he was held at a black site and routinely interrogated, beaten, strip-searched, sodomized, and subjected to other cruel forms of inhumane and degrading treatment and torture.[3][4][5][6][7] After El-Masri held hunger strikes, and was detained for four months in the "Salt Pit", the CIA finally admitted his arrest was a mistake and released him.[8] He is believed to be among an estimated 3,000 detainees, including several key leaders of al Qaeda, whom the CIA captured from 2001 to 2005, in its campaign to dismantle terrorist networks.[2]

In May 2004, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Daniel R. Coats, convinced the German interior minister, Otto Schily, not to press charges or to reveal the program.[2] El-Masri filed suit against the CIA for his arrest, extraordinary rendition and torture. In 2006, his suit El Masri v. Tenet, in which he was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), was dismissed by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, based on the U.S. government's claiming the state secrets privilege. The ACLU said the Bush administration attempted to shield its abuses by invoking this privilege.[9] The case was also dismissed by the Appeals Court for the Fourth Circuit, and in December 2007, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

On 13 December 2012, El-Masri won an Article 34 case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The court determined he had been tortured while held by CIA agents and ruled that Macedonia was responsible for abusing him while in the country, and knowingly transferring him to the CIA when torture was a possibility. It awarded him compensation.[10][11] This marked the first time that CIA activities against detainees was legally declared as torture.[12] The European Court condemned nations for collaborating with the United States in these secret programs.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference aclu050612 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference wapo051204 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ - (para. 205) El Masri v. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
  4. ^ "Protokoll Befragung Bundesinnenminister a.D. Otto Schily zur Entfuehrung von Khaled El Masri durch den CIA, 2006".[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ ACLU. "ACLU petition 2006" (PDF).
  6. ^ (para 151) El Masri v. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
  7. ^ CASE OF EL-MASRI v THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA, European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, December 2012
  8. ^ Markon, Jerry (2006-05-19). "Lawsuit Against CIA is Dismissed". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  9. ^ "'El-Masri v. Tenet': Background - State Secrets Privilege", ACLU, November 2006, accessed 26 January 2013
  10. ^ Amy Davidson, "Torturing the wrong man", New Yorker, 13 December 2012
  11. ^ Nicholas Kulish, "Court Finds Rights Violation in C.I.A. Rendition Case", New York Times, 13 December 2012
  12. ^ Amrit Singh, "European court of human rights finds against CIA abuse of Khaled el-Masri", The Guardian, 13 December 2012