One of the positive effects of Condoleezza Rice’s disasterous visit to Germany recently was that it brought attention to the case of Khaleed el-Masri as well as the Guantanamo detainee from Bremen, Murat Kurnaz. Finally, the German press, at least, is reporting on this case – and new information is coming out. Last week Die Zeit had an important article on the case where it was revealed for the first time that German authorities may have been involved in the interrogation of Murat Kurnaz in Guantanamo. At the very least, there are suspicions that German intelligence may have delivered information to the CIA concerning Kurnaz:
Anwalt Docke jedenfalls vermutet Verwicklungen deutscher Behörden auch in diesem Fall: »Aus der Guantánamo-Akte war ersichtlich, dass die Amerikaner keine belastenden Beweise gegen Herrn Kurnaz vorzuweisen hatten. Es war für mich aber überraschend, welche Aktenkenntnis die Militärs in Guantánamo über die Ermittlungen der deutschen Beamten in Bremen hatten.« Docke vermutet, hiesige Behörden hätten »sensible Akten über dunkle Kanäle einfach über den Großen Teich geschickt«. Offiziell ging jedenfalls kein Aktenstück nach Amerika. Ein formelles Rechtshilfeersuchen der USA wurde vom Bremer Staatsanwalt Uwe Picard abgelehnt.
Der Spiegel has now picked up the story and added some new details concerning official German involvement in interrogation sessions at Guantanamo. New revelations about the knowledge and possible complicity of the German government in the CIA rendition program are coming out each day. Now it was revealed that former Minister of the Interior Otto Schily was aware that the CIA had offered "hush money" (Schweigegeld) to Khaleed el-Masri in exchange for his remaining quiet about his abduction and torture. In general the response of Foreign Minister Steinmeier and other members of the Berlin coalition government concerning the charges has been unsatisfactory. Some members of the opposition parties have called for a special independent investigation.
Murat Kurnaz is a "man without a country"; only pressure from private citizen bloggers on the German and American press might lead to some action by authorities in Berlin and Washington. Up to now, the German government has refused to intervene on his behalf – they have "washed their hands" of this non-citizen, even though they were apparently eager to help the CIA with his imprisonment. Today’s Washington Post has a piece about the "stateless" detainees at Guantanamo:
A former U.S. official familiar with detention operations said mistakes were made in Afghanistan, when some detainees were shipped to Cuba because space at the U.S. facility in Bagram was limited and there was no clear plan on where to house suspected enemy combatants.
"It’s possible to get stuck there if you don’t have a state," the former official said. "Particularly at that time, when there were a lot of people getting picked up in Afghanistan, cases people were unsure about tended to end up in Cuba. People did get caught up in the situation."
Another U.S. official familiar with Guantanamo Bay said it is likely that other "stateless" people will surface as the military prepares to release more detainees.
