ACLU Appeals Case of German Man Kidnapped by CIA
CONTACT: 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 date on 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
and here: El-Masri v. Tenet Appeal
Video of
El-Masri's testimony before the United Nations is online at:
www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/gen/26157prs20060714.html