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European Court Backs C.I.A. Rendition Victim European Court Backs C.I.A. Rendition Victim
(about 2 hours later)
BERLIN — After years of legal struggles, a German man mistaken for a terrorist who was abducted and held captive for months in 2004 won a measure of redress on Thursday when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Macedonia had violated his rights by arresting him and turning him over to the United States. BERLIN — After years of legal struggles, a German man mistaken for a terrorist and abducted and held captive for months in 2004 won a measure of redress on Thursday when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Macedonia had violated his rights by arresting him and turning him over to the United States.
In a unanimous ruling, the 17-judge panel, based in Strasbourg, France, found that Macedonia had violated the prohibition against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in the European Convention on Human Rights for its role in the abduction of the man, Khaled el-Masri. In a unanimous ruling, the 17-judge panel, based in Strasbourg, France, found that Macedonia had violated the prohibition against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in the European Convention on Human Rights for its role in the abduction of the man, Khaled el-Masri. It was the first time a court had ruled in Mr. Masri’s favor in the case.
Mr. Masri, 49, who is of Lebanese descent, was seized on Dec. 31, 2003, as he entered Macedonia while on vacation; border security guards confused him with an operative of Al Qaeda with a similar name. He says he was turned over to the Central Intelligence Agency, which flew him to Afghanistan as part of its clandestine rendition program, in which terror suspects were transported to third countries for interrogation. Mr. Masri, 49, who is of Lebanese descent, was seized on Dec. 31, 2003, as he entered Macedonia while on vacation; border security guards confused him with an operative of Al Qaeda with a similar name. He says he was turned over to the Central Intelligence Agency, which flew him to Afghanistan as part of its clandestine rendition program, in which terrorism suspects were transported to third countries for interrogation.
After more than four months in custody, he was dropped on a roadside in Albania. No charges were filed against him. Mr. Masri has said he was held in a secret United States prison and tortured before his captors let him go. After more than four months in custody, he was dropped on a roadside in Albania. No charges were filed against him. Mr. Masri has said he was held in a secret United States prison in Afghanistan and tortured before his captors let him go.
Mr. Masri’s account of his seizure by Macedonian authorities and rendition to Afghanistan by the Central Intelligence Agency was “established beyond reasonable doubt,” the ruling said. The court ordered Macedonia to pay Mr. Masri about $78,000 in damages.Mr. Masri’s account of his seizure by Macedonian authorities and rendition to Afghanistan by the Central Intelligence Agency was “established beyond reasonable doubt,” the ruling said. The court ordered Macedonia to pay Mr. Masri about $78,000 in damages.
James A. Goldston, executive director at the Open Society Justice Initiative, who argued the case before the court, called the ruling “a comprehensive condemnation of the worst aspects of the post-9/11 war on terror tactics that were employed by the C.I.A. and governments who cooperated with them.” The decision, which Amnesty International hailed as “a historic moment and a milestone in the fight against impunity,” is final and cannot be appealed. The C.I.A. declined to comment on the ruling.
A lawsuit against the United States filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union was dismissed in 2006 on the grounds that it would expose state secrets. “It’s a historic ruling and sends the message to European nations that they have a heightened obligation to investigate their complicity and cooperation with the illegal C.I.A. extraordinary rendition program,” said Jamil Dakwar, head of the human rights program at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I would certainly hope that judges in the United States would see this as a signal that they can and should subject to greater scrutiny the actions of the U.S. government in combating terrorism,” Mr. Goldston said. The Open Society Justice Initiative, a private legal and human rights group, is pursuing additional cases at the European Court of Human Rights against Poland and Romania over secret prisons established there as part of the war on terror. Kostadin Bogdanov, a lawyer who represents Macedonia before the court, said Macedonia would pay the damages and perhaps take other actions in light of the ruling. They include reopening the Masri investigation and amending laws regarding criminal procedures or their implementation, he said. James A. Goldston, executive director at the Open Society Justice Initiative, who argued the case before the court, called the ruling “a comprehensive condemnation of the worst aspects of the post-9/11 war on terror tactics that were employed by the C.I.A. and governments who cooperated with them.”
Nearly nine years have passed since the authorities pulled Mr. Masri off a bus at the Macedonian border on New Year’s Eve in 2003. He was taken to a hotel in the capital, Skopje, and locked in a room there for 23 days. His detention, along with the threat that he would be shot if he left the hotel room, “amounted on various counts to inhuman and degrading treatment,” the ruling said. A lawsuit against the United States filed on Mr. Masri’s behalf by the A.C.L.U. was dismissed in 2006 on the grounds that it would expose state secrets.
When he was handed over to the C.I.A. rendition team at the Skopje airport, he was “severely beaten, sodomized, shackled and hooded,” in the presence of Macedonian officials, the ruling said. Mr. Masri was flown to Afghanistan, where he was held prisoner for several months before his release. The A.C.L.U. is representing Mr. Masri in a case against the United States now before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The petition was filed in 2008, and the United States government has yet to respond.
His German lawyer, Manfred Gnjidic, said his mental state had suffered not only abuse but the “nine years of constantly fighting, being called a liar, a terrorist, an Islamist, a hard-liner.” Mr. Masri has broken off contact with his lawyers while serving a prison sentence on unrelated charges involving a 2009 assault on the mayor of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria. He remains incarcerated. Mr. Dakwar said that it had been “an uphill battle” to convince the Obama administration to hold officials accountable under international law for Mr. Masri’s mistreatment, but that the case before the commission “gives the Obama administration the opportunity to acknowledge the egregious violations against Khaled, offer official apology and reparation.” Nearly nine years have passed since the authorities pulled Mr. Masri off a bus at the Macedonian border on New Year’s Eve in 2003. He was taken to a hotel in the capital, Skopje, and locked in a room there for 23 days. His detention, along with the threat that he would be shot if he left the hotel room, “amounted on various counts to inhuman and degrading treatment,” the ruling said.
“Macedonia was only the henchman of the great powers,” Mr. Gnjidic said. “The question is: What is with the big fishes, with Germany, with the U.S.A.? All he ever wanted was to know why this was done to him and an apology.” When he was handed over to the C.I.A. rendition team at the Skopje airport, he was “severely beaten, sodomized, shackled and hooded” in the presence of Macedonian officials, the ruling said, a treatment that “amounted to torture.”
His German lawyer, Manfred Gnjidic, said his mental state had suffered not only abuse but the “nine years of constantly fighting, being called a liar, a terrorist, an Islamist, a hard-liner.” Mr. Masri has broken off contact with his lawyers while serving a prison sentence on unrelated charges involving a 2009 assault on the mayor of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria.
Mr. Gnjidic said he had written Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany asking the German government to appeal to the United States government on Mr. Masri’s behalf and to see what could be done on the German side to help him.“Macedonia was only the henchman of the great powers,” Mr. Gnjidic said. “The question is: What is with the big fishes, with Germany, with the U.S.A.? All he ever wanted was to know why this was done to him and an apology.”

Chris Cottrell contributed reporting from Berlin, and Scott Shane from Washington.