Germany May Go After CIA-sponsored Operatives

from the LA Times, via Truthout:


Germany May Go After CIA-Sponsored Operatives
By Jeffrey Fleishman and John Goetz
The Los Angeles Times

Wednesday 31 January 2007

Berlin - 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. ......(more)

The complete article is at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107P.shtml