Khaled el-Masri is a German citizen. His was born in Kuwait in 1963, and raised by his Lebanese parents in Lebanon. In 1985, during the Lebanese civil war, he fled and settled in Germany where he completed his education and became a carpenter.

While on holiday in Macedonia in December 2004, he was apprehended at the border crossing between Serbia and Macedonia, where officials confiscated his passport and detained for several hours before being transferred by plain clothes officials to a hotel Skopje, where he was held for 23 days. He was denied access to lawyers, translators, consular personnel and was not allowed to contact his wife. He was also had guns put to his head when he attempted to leave.

El-Masri was repeatedly interrogated throughout this period, particularly about a trip his captors alleged he had made to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to meet an Egyptian man and Norwegian contacts. He had never been to Jalalabad. After a week, he was told that if he confessed his involvement with al Qaida, he would be returned to Germany. He refused, and after 13 days, went on hunger strike which lasted for the remainder of his detention in Skopje.

On 23 January, he was forced to give a statement that was filmed, indicating that he had not been ill-treated, and was told he would be flown back to Germany. He was then driven to an airport. On arrival at the airport, he described what happened in the declaration he made as part of court proceedings filed against the Director of the CIA in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia:

 

The aircraft which was used to carry out the rendition of el-Masri from Macedonia to Kabul was an unmarked 737 Boeing Business Jet with registration N313P. As analysis of the flight data shows, the rendition of el-Masri on board this aircraft occurred just after the same aircraft had been used in the rendition of Binyam Mohamed from Morocco to Afghanistan on 22 January. Click here for our analysis of the flight data and documentation associated with el-Masri’s rendition from Macedonia to Afghanistan.

Very soon after his rendition, the CIA realised it had abducted an innocent man. Although the then-CIA Director, George Tenet, was advised of this, el-Masri continued to be held for a further two months, and he continued to be subjected to inhumane treatment and interrogations.

On arrival in Afghanistan, el-Masri was transferred to what the SSCI report called a “Country [redacted] facility used by the CIA for detention purposes.” This is likely to refer to an Afghan-run site, rather than one of the CIA-run sites such as DETENTION SITE COBALT. According to el-Masri, on his first night he was stripped, photographed naked and medically examined by a masked doctor with an American accent. His captors also took blood and urine samples. The next night, his interrogations began again, and again the focus was the alleged trip to Jalalabad. He was repeatedly threatened, insulted and pushed and shoved around, and his requests for access to lawyers and representatives of the German government were repeatedly denied. CIA cables dated 27-28 January 2004 note that al-Masri “seemed bewildered on why he had been sent to his particular prison,” and was “adamant that [CIA] has the wrong person.” Continued disagreement within the CIA meant that he was detained for a further four months.

In March 2004, el-Masri and other inmates began a hunger strike. After 27 days without eating, senior personnel finally met with el-Masri. They stated that they could not release him without permission from Washington, but that he should not be detained. He continued his hunger strike, and on the 27th day, was taken to the interrogation room where he was force fed through a feeding tube that had been forcible inserted through his nose. He was weighed, and had lost 60 pounds since his capture. The force-feeding made him very ill and he had to receive medical treatment.

The following month, el-Masri began to receive visits from ‘Sam’, a German speaker, along with the US prison director and a translator, during which many of the same questions asked during previous interrogations were asked again. At the end of May, el-Masri was told he would be released, but only on condition that he never mention what happened to him.

On 27 May 2004, after more than four months (125 days) in CIA secret detention, el-Masri was prepared for his rendition back to Germany, which took place the next day. Flight data and associated documentation demonstrate that, this time, he was boarded onto a CIA-chartered Gulfstream III jet with tail number N982RK. ‘Sam’ accompanied el-Masri, and told him that the aircraft would not land in Germany because the US did not want his movements traced. The aircraft in fact landed in Albania, near the Macedonian border. Click here for our analysis of the flight data and documentation associated with el-Masri’s rendition from Afghanistan to Albania.

On arrival in Albania, he was transported by car through the mountains in a journey that lasted three hours. He was finally taken out of the vehicle, had his handcuffs removed and his possessions returned to him. He was instructed to walk down a path without looking back. El-Masri believed at this point that he would be executed with a shot in the back. As he turned a corner he was apprehended by armed men who scrutinised his passport and asked why he didn’t have permission to be in Albania. He asked to be taken to the German embassy. Instead they transported him to the airport where he passed through customs and immigration without any inspection, and boarded a flight bound for Frankfurt. The aircraft landed in Frankfurt at 8:40am, and from there he made the journey to his home in Ulm. He found his house empty and discovered that his wife and children had moved to Lebanon when he had failed to return from his holiday.

 

Investigations and Accountability

 

Investigations

German prosecutors launched an investigation into el-Masri’s case. As explained by the Open Society Justice Initiative, German officials were able to prove el-Masri’s travel and subsequent capture in Macedonia. They also proved, through scientific testing of his hair, that he had spent an extended period in a South Asian country. After meeting with then US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the US accepted it had made a mistake in its abduction of el-Masri.

 

Legal proceedings in the US

On behalf of el-Masri, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued CIA Director George Tenet for violating international law when he authorised the abduction, rendition and arbitrary detention of el-Masri. The ACLU also named the companies that facilitated his rendition in the case. The case was dismissed in May 2006, when the US government intervened and argued that the case would allow state secrets to be jeopardised. In November 2006, the ACLU appealed the decision, but the appeals court upheld the district court’s decision. In October 2007, the US Supreme Court also refused to review the case. 

 

Legal proceedings in Europe

El-Masri filed a lawsuit for damages against the Macedonian Ministry of the Interior in January 2009. But these proceedings could not provide redress for the violations of el-Masri’s rights under the European Convention of Human Rights. Therefore, litigators, in Macedonia, with the support of a co-counsel from the Open Society Justice Initiative, brought a case before the European Court of Human Rights. The Court found that El-Masri had been tortured by the rendition team, and it held Macedonia responsible. Macedonia was ordered to pay €60,000 in damages.

 

Further Reading

 

El-Masri v. Tenet, Declaration
El-Masri v. Tenet, Complaint
American Civil Liberties Union, El Masri v. Tenet
Open Society Justice Initiative, El-Masri v. Macedonia