German Arrest Warrants for CIA Rendition Suspects

Last spring a US Federal Court in Washington DC refused to hear the case of Khaled al-Masri, the German citizen who was kidnapped and tortured by CIA operatives in a case of mistaken identity.  Since no justice is forthcoming from the US in this case — which represented a direct violation of German sovereignty and German (and EU) law — a court in Munich has decided to take action:

A court in Munich ordered the arrest of 13 people for the alleged abduction of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen who says he was seized by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and taken to a secret prison in Afghanistan.

Evidence collected by prosecutors yielded “clearly identifiable” individuals who may be undercover CIA agents, the Munich prosecutor, which obtained the warrants, said today on its Web site. The 13 could be charged with deprivation of liberty and aggravated assault for the alleged seizure of el-Masri on Dec. 31, 2003, in Macedonia.

Here, as well as in the case of Murat Kurnaz, there are questions about possible complicity or at least knowledge of the kidnapping by the former Red-Green government in Berlin.  Specifically, what did Steinmeier know?

German lawmakers have pressed members of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government on what they knew about the el- Masri abduction. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was Schroeder’s chief-of-staff, told a committee last month that Germany provided no assistance to the U.S., while Schily said in November that former U.S. ambassador Daniel Coats confirmed the abduction and asked him to treat the information confidentially.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Dec. 6, 2005, in Berlin that the two had discussed el-Masri and that the “the U.S. conceded” that the seizure was “a mistake.” While U.S. officials later disputed Merkel’s statement, the German government has said Merkel’s statement “can stand as it is.”

No surprise that Condoleezza Rice would lie about the case, that is part of her nature (and job description in the Bush State Department). The arrest warrants from Germany are a welcome development: they signal that the lawlessness of the Bush administration will not be tolerated in Europe.