Arrest warrants issued for CIA 'kidnapping team'

[Bonobo]

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2204079.ece

Munich state prosecutors took the unprecedented step yesterday of issuing warrants for the arrest of 13 suspected CIA agents alleged to have kidnapped and beaten a German national who was abducted and held prisoner in Afghanistan under the extraordinary rendition programme.

Khaled el Masri, a German of Lebanese descent, was bundled into an unmarked bus while on holiday in Macedonia in December 2003 and flown to a US jail in Afghanistan.He was released in May 2004.

The US has refused to assist the German authorities over Mr Masri's case. In May last year, a judge dismissed a lawsuit he filed against the CIA, citing national security considerations.

If the warrants lead to a trial, it would be the first criminal prosecution over America's renditions programme. But German warrants are not valid in the US.

[3waygeek]

1. A good start...

now we just need indictments of the rest of the Bush cabal...

[AX10]

2. Good!

[PDJane]

3. what we really need

Are war crimes tribunals for the crazies.

Shrub should never have let them out of the basement.

[LiberalFighter]

4. All they need to do is do a rendition on the agents while in another country

I wonder what would be the response of the world if Bush part of a rendition?

[PhilipShore]

5. Yes -- CIA is just a secret society of Repukes

[struggle4progress]

6. German Court Challenges C.I.A. Over Abduction (NYT)

By MARK LANDLER
Published: February 1, 2007

FRANKFURT, Jan. 31 — A German court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for 13 people in the mistaken kidnapping and jailing of a German citizen of Lebanese descent, in the most serious legal challenge yet to the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret transfers of terrorism suspects.

Prosecutors in Munich said the suspects, whom they did not identify, were part of a C.I.A. “abduction team” that seized the man, Khaled el-Masri, in Macedonia in late 2003 and flew him to Afghanistan. He was imprisoned there for five months, during which, he said, he was shackled, beaten and interrogated about alleged ties to Al Qaeda, before being released without charges.

His ordeal is the most extensively documented case of the C.I.A.’s practice of “extraordinary rendition,” in which terrorism suspects are seized and sent for interrogation to other countries, including some in which torture is practiced.

“This is a very consequential step,” August Stern, the prosecutor in Munich, said in a telephone interview. “It is a necessary step before bringing a criminal case against these people." ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/world/europe/01germany.html?hp&ex=1170392400&en=6f12d67d6aa79a74&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Heidi]

7. Kick.

:kick:

[RamboLiberal]

8. LAT: Germany may go after CIA-sponsored operatives

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cia31jan31,0,485431.story?coll=la-home-headlines

German investigators have recommended that prosecutors issue arrest warrants against 13 U.S. intelligence operatives in connection with the kidnapping, beating and secret detention of a German citizen suspected of having links to terrorist networks.

The operatives were part of a CIA-sponsored team that transported alleged terrorists to interrogation camps around the world. Investigators say the group forced a handcuffed and blindfolded Khaled Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, onto a Boeing 737 and flew him from Macedonia to Afghanistan in January 2004. Masri was not charged with a crime and was released after five months.

German law enforcement officials said indictments could be filed as early as this week against the suspects, including four pilots, a medic and members of an operations unit. The most serious charge is expected to be kidnapping, according to an official who asked not to be named.

The Masri case has periodically strained U.S.-German relations and led to a parliamentary investigation into allegations that German intelligence agents were involved in the abduction. Investigators also have examined discrepancies about when high-ranking government officials were informed about Masri's fate.

The prospect of criminal charges in the Masri ordeal comes as an Italian court is deliberating whether to order the trial of 26 Americans and nine Italians in connection with the February 2003 abduction of a radical Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar. The Italian government may demand the extradition of the accused Americans, including the former CIA station chief in Milan, where Omar was snatched off a sidewalk.

[Purveyor]

9. When it 'rains, it pours", eh? Priah indeed! n/t

[saigon68]

12. Lock up those assholes

[Eugene]

10. BBC: Germany issues CIA arrest orders

Last Updated: Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 10:42 GMT

Germany issues CIA arrest orders

Germany has issued arrest warrants for 13 people over the alleged CIA-backed
kidnapping of one of its citizens.

Munich prosecutors said the arrest warrants were linked to the case of Khaled
al-Masri, a German national of Lebanese descent.

-snip-

Munich Prosecutor Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld told the Associated Press news
agency that the warrants had been issued in the last few days and that a
statement would be made later in the day.

German arrest warrants are not valid in the US but if the suspects were to
travel to the European Union they could be arrested.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6316369.stm

(Associated Press)

Warrants issued for 13 in connection with alleged CIA kidnapping of German citizen

The Associated Press
Published: January 31, 2007

BERLIN: Arrest warrants have been issued for 13 people in connection
with the alleged CIA-orchestrated kidnapping of a German citizen, a
Munich prosecutor said Wednesday.

Prosecutor Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld said the warrants were issued
in the last few days.

Munich prosecutors have previously said that they had received the
names of several U.S. secret agents believed to have been involved
in the 2003 kidnapping from Spanish investigators but it was not
immediately clear whether they were the people sought in the warrants.

Schmidt-Sommerfeld refused to provide further details, saying a statement
would be made later in the day.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/31/europe/EU-GEN-Germany-CIA-Kidnap-Claim.php

[Eugene]

11. Reuters: Judge tells Spain to declassify CIA flight papers

Judge tells Spain to declassify CIA flight papers

Reuters
Wednesday, January 31, 2007; 1:13 PM

MADRID (Reuters) - A judge has ordered Spain's state intelligence agency to declassify
any documents it has about secret CIA flights shuttling terrorism suspects, court
officials said on Wednesday.

High Court Judge Ismael Moreno issued the order to the National Intelligence Center (CNI)
as part of an investigation he began last year to determine whether suspects on CIA flights
touching down on the Spanish island of Mallorca were held illegally or tortured, the
officials said.

Up to 50 people were moved across Europe in flights to jails in third countries where they
faced torture and other abuse, according to European Parliament investigators.

A Council of Europe investigator last year said Spain might have acted in "collusion, active
or passive," with secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013101189.html

[Bonobo]

13. Too bad the CIA agents didn't hunt whale. Then DU would really take notice!