[JURIST] A spokesperson for German spy agency Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) [official website in German] on Thursday said that a low-ranking agent knew in January 2004 that German citizen Khalid el-Masri [JURIST news archive] had been arrested in Macedonia and turned over to American authorities, but failed to report the story to his superiors. The spokesperson said the agent overheard a conversation in a Macedonian security building about Masri's arrest and transfer to US custody, but did not find it important. The BND has previously asserted that Germany did not know of the alleged extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] incident until May 2004.

A German parliamentary committee in April opened an investigation [JURIST report] into allegations that BND intelligence contributed to the seizure of el-Masri [JURIST report]. El-Masri has alleged [statement] that he was kidnapped in Macedonia in 2003, held by the CIA in Afghanistan where he was subjected to inhumane conditions and coercive interrogation, and finally dumped in Albania in 2004 without ever being charged. A US judge last earlier this month dismissed el-Masri's civil suit against the CIA [JURIST report] for the alleged rendition, citing state secrecy concerns. Aljazeera has more.