Al-Masri, a Lebanese-born German national, says he was seized while on vacation in Europe last year and then brought to a U.S. prison in Afghanistan where he was tortured and interrogated for suspected ties to the Al Qaeda terror group.

[Posted By gaanjah_mama]

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By AP
Republished from The Toronto Star

...the United States wanted German officials to keep silent because of fears of exposing a covert U.S. program...

The United States acknowledged last year that the Central Intelligence Agency had wrongfully imprisoned a German man for five months, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

The U.S. ambassador to Germany told the German interior minister that the United States would free Khaled al-Masri and asked the minister not to speak of the case, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation who spoke to the newspaper.

Al-Masri, a Lebanese-born German national, says he was seized while on vacation in Europe last year and then brought to a U.S. prison in Afghanistan where he was tortured and interrogated for suspected ties to the Al Qaeda terror group.

A German prosecutor is looking into al-Masri’s claims.

The Post’s sources, who would only speak anonymously, said the United States wanted German officials to keep silent because of fears of exposing a covert U.S. program to capture terror suspects abroad and transfer them to other countries.

The CIA declined to comment, as did the U.S. Embassy in Germany, the German interior ministry and the German Embassy in Washington.

The case, the Post reports, shows how pressure on the CIA to arrest terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has led to detention sometimes based on thin or speculative evidence.

CIA officials have said “renditions” — the capture and transfer of a suspect for interrogation — are among the best ways to deal with potential terrorists.

The CIA and other intelligence agencies have captured an estimated 3,000 people, including several key Al Qaeda leaders.

One official told the Post that about three dozen names are being investigated for what the agency calls “erroneous renditions.” Others say it’s fewer.