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Extraordinary Rendition

US Rejects German's Case against CIA

A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by German citizen Khaled al-Masri, who claims he was abducted and tortured at secret CIA prisons. The case, says the judge, could harm America's war on terror.

Khaled al-Masri, the German citizen of Lebanese descent who was allegedly kidnapped and tortured in secret CIA prisons, has failed in his attempt to be compensated for the ordeal. A US federal court in Alexandria, Virginia rejected the case he brought against former CIA director George Tenet and other spy agency employees involving kidnapping, torture and mistaken identity. The court argued the case would risk exposing national security secrets that are key to Washington's efforts to battle terrorism.

The ruling by US District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III did not consider the validity of the claims made by Khaled al-Masri, who says he was abducted on New Year's Eve 2003 in Macedonia and detained in various secret overseas prisons often referred to as "black sites." His five month ordeal finally ended when he was dumped on an abandoned road in Albania.

"In the present circumstances, al-Masri's private interests must give way to the national interest in preserving state secrets," Ellis wrote in the ruling. The judge did say if the charges made by al-Masri were true, he deserved compensation, although he did not explain how such a deal would come about.

Al-Masri contends his arrest -- allegedly part of the CIA's controversial practice of "extraordinary renditions" -- was the result of mistaken identity and he has demanded $75,000 in damages from the US spy agency. He says he was beaten and sodomized by his captors while held captive and was also forced to wear a diaper and was drugged.

But Judge Ellis said he was satisfied after receiving a secret written briefing from the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, which argued that allowing al-Masri's lawsuit to proceed would harm US national security. Al-Masri's case is one of the best known cases of extraordinary rendition, a practice the United States is thought to use against terror suspects. The practice has come under considerable criticism by human rights groups that allege the US officials spirit the suspects away to countries that use questionable interrogation methods illegal under US law.

UN calls for closure Guantanamo and secret prisons

On Friday, a United Nations panel called for the closure of the US terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and said the US should avoid using secret prisons and black sites in its war on terror.

In an 11-page final report on its review of US adherence to the UN Treaty Against Torture, the UN committee said detainees should not be returned to any state where they could face a "real risk" of being tortured, according to the Associated Press. "The state party should cease to detain any person at Guantanamo Bay and close the detention facility," wrote the panel of 10 independent experts on adherence to the torture treaty.

The committee said it was concerned that detainees were being held for lengthy periods without proper legal safeguards and it was also worried about allegations that the United States has established secret prisons, where the international Red Cross does not have access to the detainees.

The United States appeared before the UN Committee Against Torture for the first time in six years earlier in May. The committee addressed several issues including Washington's interpretation of the absolute ban on torture and its interrogation methods in prisons such as Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and Guantanamo.

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