U.S. Rendition Case Reaches Human Rights Court
A German man who said he was mistaken for a terrorist more than eight years ago and tortured by U.S. agents had his suit against Macedonia heard by the European Court of Human Rights after his claims were rejected in three countries.
Khaled el-Masri said the Balkan country violated the European Convention on Human Rights by torturing him, denying his rights to freedom and privacy, and refusing to adequately investigate his claims. Macedonian guards turned him over to U.S. agents after he was mistaken for a terrorist with a similar name as he tried to visit the country in 2003. Today’s case at the Human Rights court in Strasbourg, France, is the furthest el-Masri has been able to pursue his claims he was a victim of “extraordinary rendition,” a U.S. practice in which terrorism suspects are transferred to a different country. The U.S. Supreme Court refused in 2007 to reinstate his suit against the Central Intelligence Agency. There is “clear evidence of Macedonian government collusion with covering up the rendition,” James Goldston, el- Masri’s lawyer, told the Grand Chamber of the court today. “Every investigation, except Macedonia’s insignificant inquiry, has found evidence of details in his complaints.”
The Age: Rendition victim takes case to human rights court - The case of Khalid el-Masri, 48, will be heard by a panel of 17 judges in Strasbourg, the first time it has been considered in open court more than eight years after he was arrested "in error" by Macedonian border guards. He was handed over to the CIA and flown to a detention centre in Afghanistan known as the ''salt pit''. The case provoked an outcry after Mr Masri (left) was dumped on an Albanian mountain road in May 2004.