ACLU Seeks Justice For Khaled El-Masri, Victim of CIA Policy of Extraordinary Rendition
May 12, 2006
CONTACT: media@aclu.orgWidely Publicized CIA Kidnapping of German Citizen is No "State Secret," ACLU Charges, Fights U.S. Government's Attempt to Dismiss Case
ALEXANDRIA, VA -- The
American Civil Liberties Union argued its case on the illegal abduction and
detention of Khaled El-Masri today before a federal court in Alexandria. The
ACLU said El-Masri is an innocent German citizen who was victimized by the CIA's
policy of "extraordinary rendition." In today's hearing the CIA argued that the
case must be dismissed because of the danger that 'state secrets' may be
exposed.
"By the CIA's reasoning, the entire world can discuss this case,
newspapers can write about it, foreign governments can investigate it, but the
court has no role," said Ben Wizner, the ACLU staff attorney who presented
arguments this morning. "The idea that the court must close its eyes and ears to
common sense, and protect the nation from disclosure of information that the
whole world already knows, is simply absurd."
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 a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan. The corporations that owned
and operated the airplanes are also named in the case. The CIA continued to hold
El-Masri incommunicado in the notorious "Salt Pit" prison in Afghanistan long
after his innocence was known. Five months after his abduction El-Masri was
deposited at night, without explanation on a hill in Albania, never having been
charged with a crime.
According to the ACLU the government has been invoking
the state secrets argument with more regularity in an effort to avoid the
exposure of illegal and immoral practices, including, most recently, in an
effort to dismiss suits challenging illegal NSA wiretapping. Yet in this case,
the ACLU argues that all the information is already public.
Recently, a
special committee of the European Parliament issued an interim report concluding
that the CIA has on several occasions illegally kidnapped and detained
individuals in European countries. The report also found that the CIA detained
and then secretly used airlines to transfer persons to countries like Egypt and
Afghanistan, which routinely use torture during interrogations.
Members of
the European investigative committee have been in the United States for several
days to meet with the ACLU and Members of Congress. A parliamentary inquiry into
El-Masri's kidnapping is also currently ongoing in Germany.
The ACLU has also
called on a United Nations human rights investigative body, the Working Group on
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, to conduct a full investigation into the
United States' "extraordinary rendition" program.
Background and briefs on
the case are online at www.aclu.org/rendition