Extraordinary rendition’s day in court

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:49:00 +0000

While new movie "Zero Dark Thirty" has renewed debates over the CIA's use of torture in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, a Thursday ruling in the European Court of Human Rights has brought the issue of U.S. extraordinary rendition practices to the fore. The court ruled that the CIA illegally subjected a German-Lebanese man to extraordinary rendition in a secret Afghan prison sinisterly dubbed "the salt pit." It was the first case relating to the U.S.'s practice of transferring terror suspects across borders for interrogation to come before the Strasbourg-based court.

Khaled El-Masri was kidnapped in Macedonia by the authorities there and handed over to U.S. custody. He was flown to Afghanistan in December 2003 and interrogated there until his release in May 2004, when he was dumped on a mountain road in Albania. Thursday's European court decision focused on Macedonia's role, ruling that the government must pay El-Masri 60,000 euros in damages, but carries important implications for U.S. accountability over the use of torture in its war on terror.

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Extraordinary rendition’s day in court