Germany issues arrest warrants for 13 suspected CIA agents

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Source: CCTV.com | 02-01-2007 14:55

Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent

German prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 13 suspected Central Intelligence Agency agents over the kidnapping of a German citizen three years ago. The US government says it has not yet fully examined the circumstances surrounding the warrants and will further review the allegations.

A district court in Munich on Wednesday issued warrants for the arrest of 13 suspected CIA agents.

August Stern, senior prosecutor, said, "Following a proposal of the Munich Prosecution, prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 13 alleged kidnappers of Mr. al-Masri, under suspicion of false imprisonment and serious bodily injury."

The prosecutor said according to their investigations, the people being sought belong to a CIA kidnapping team, that consists of the flight crew and the so called "rendition team."

Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, maintains he was abducted in December 2003 at the Serbian-Macedonian border and flown by the CIA to a detention center in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was tortured.

Al-Masri says he was released in Albania in May 2004 after the CIA discovered they had the wrong person.

None of the suspects were identified. And the prosecutors said their next step would be efforts to find out the real names of the accused.

Meanwhile in Washington, the US government says it is still examining the arrest warrants issued by Germany. A US State Department spokesman said the government still does not have all the facts related to the arrest warrants.

Sean Mccormack, US State Department Spokesman, said, "These warrants have been issued, I understand, by a local prosecutor, so it is not the typical bilateral to bilateral exchange that you might have with the federal government. So again, we are going to look for more details.

The spokesman added that the US government respects the German sovereignty, and that Washington and Berlin have had close cooperation in counter-terrorism matters.

Editor:Du Xiaodan