JURIST - Paper Chase: El-Masri ordered to German mental hospital after arson arrest

[JURIST] Khaled El-Masri [JURIST news archive], the German citizen allegedly kidnapped by the CIA in 2003, is suspected of arson at a wholesale market in Germany and has been ordered by a judge to be admitted to a psychiatric institution, according to the German police Thursday. Manfred Gnjidic, El-Masri's lawyer, told AP that his client had suffered "a complete nervous breakdown" and added that Gnjidic had been trying unsuccessfully to get El-Masri into a therapy program since 2004. AP has more. Der Spiegel has local coverage, in German.

El-Masri sued [ACLU materials] former CIA Director George Tenet and other CIA officials in 2005, arguing that they violated international human rights law by their involvement in the alleged kidnapping and extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] of El-Masri to Afghanistan. A US federal appeals court upheld [JURIST report] the dismissal of that lawsuit in March 2007, deciding that the case could not be heard in a US court because of the government's state secrets privilege [Sourcewatch backgrounder]. El-Masri says he was first detained by Macedonian officials and subsequently held by the CIA while vacationing in Macedonia in December 2003. He was released in Albania in May 2004 without apology or funds to return to Germany.

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