Germany Abandons Extradition Request of Suspected CIA Agents

[Flabbergasted]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=apvD0mpsI9VQ&refer=germany

Germany Abandons Extradition Request of Suspected CIA Agents

By Kenneth Wong

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Germany said it abandoned plans to ask the U.S. to extradite 13 suspected CIA agents after the Bush administration said it would refuse the request.

The U.S. said it wouldn't agree to an extradition, Isabel Jahn, a spokeswoman for the German Justice Ministry in Berlin, said in a phone interview today. Der Spiegel earlier reported the decision. Germany had wanted the Americans to stand trial on charges of wrongfully imprisoning Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese descent.

``It's important to stress that the decision was made in the context that we sounded out the U.S. government,'' Jahn said. The German government wanted to avoid a conflict with Washington, Der Spiegel said.

A court in Munich issued an arrest warrant in January for the 13, describing them as members of the Central Intelligence Agency who wrongfully imprisoned el-Masri on suspicion of terror offenses. Evidence collected by prosecutors yielded ``clearly identifiable'' individuals who may have been undercover agents, the court said.

El-Masri told authorities that he was seized on Dec. 31, 2003, while on holiday in Macedonia and flown to a CIA prison in Afghanistan, where he was subjected to coercive interrogation methods.

The U.S. Department of Justice doesn't discuss whether it has received extradition requests, Andrew Ames, a department spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg today.

``Mr. El-Masri has pursued litigation for civil damages here in the U.S., and this litigation is ongoing. To date, U.S. courts have barred his suit based on the U.S. Government's assertion of state secrecy concerns,'' Ames said.

CIA spokesman George Little declined to comment.