Amnesty International Asks Skopje to Hand Over Rendition Evidence

The human rights watchdog made the request in a press release today after the European Court of Human Rights communicated el-Masri's case against Skopje to the Macedonian government for observations in October this year.

The press release accompanies the publication of a new report titled "Open Secret: Mounting Evidence Of Europe's Complicity In Rendition And Secret Detention".

El-Masri, a German national of Lebanese descent, claims that he was captured in December 2003 by Macedonian law enforcement officials who confiscated his passport and detained and interrogated him under armed guard for several weeks, denying him access to consular services and his family.

He says he was taken to the Skopje airport in January 2004 and handed over to CIA agents and then flown to Kabul, Afghanistan, where he remained until his release in Albania four months later.

According to AI, "during his detention in Afghanistan, el-Masri was allegedly beaten, held in inhumane conditions, and force fed following a hunger strike. He was never charged or brought before a judge."   

In September 2009 El-Masri filed a case against the Macedonian government at the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that "Macedonian state actors were directly responsible for his unlawful detention in Macedonia; his ill-treatment in detention in Macedonia; and handing him over to the CIA with the knowledge that he would be unlawfully transferred, detained, and at risk of torture and ill-treatment in Afghanistan – all violations of Macedonia’s obligations under the ECHR," according to the AI press release.

The Macedonian government has denied that El-Masri was held illegally in the country, claiming that he was arrested and temporarily detained and then released after determining that he was not a terrorist suspect.

El Masri attempted to bring his case before the courts in the US, but his application was rejected based on the “states secrets” privilege. He has also filed petitions against the German government and at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and both cases are pending.