The CIA kidnap and torture victim Khaled El-Masri has lost an appeal to have his case tried in US court. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said it would not take up El-Masri’s appeal of two lower court rulings rejecting his case. The Bush administration had invoked the so-called ‘state secrets’ privilege to deny Masri a trial. Masri was seized in Macedonia and flown to Afghanistan where he was held in a secret prison and tortured. In December 2005, two years after his abduction, Masri described his ordeal.
- Khaled El-Masri: “They took me to a room. I had handcuffs and I had a blindfold and when the door was closed I was beaten from all sides. I was hit from all sides. I then was humiliated and I could hear that I was being photographed in the process when I was completely naked. Then my hands were tied to my back. I got a blindfold and they put chains onto my ankles and a sack over my head and just like the pictures we have seen from Guantanamo for example.”
Judge Blocks Extradition of Gitmo Prisoner
A federal judge has blocked the transfer of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner to his native Tunisia over fears he would be tortured or killed. The ruling in the case of Mohammed Abdul Rahman marks the first time a court has stopped the Pentagon from sending a prisoner abroad. Rahman’s attorney, Joshua Denbeaux said : “The executive has now been told it cannot bury its Guantanamo mistakes in Third World prisons