Abduction Case Roils German Politics

A German citizen’s alleged abduction by U.S. officials on the mistaken suspicion that he was an Islamic militant has riveted the new government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and led to a strong denial Wednesday by the Foreign Ministry of German complicity in the affair.

The case of Khaled Masri, a car salesman of Lebanese descent, has complicated Merkel’s plans to improve relations with Washington. It also has resulted in charges from leftist politicians that the former government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, while condemning the Bush administration’s intelligence practices, knew about Masri’s alleged detention and secret CIA flights carrying suspected militants across Europe.

“Let me make it clear,” Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a special meeting of Parliament in the strongest denial of complicity yet by a current official. “The German government did not aid and abet the abduction of Khaled Masri.”

The Masri case has come to epitomize a clandestine intelligence operation gone wrong. In a lawsuit filed last week against U.S. officials, and in an interview this year with The Times, Masri said he was kidnapped in Macedonia in late 2003, beaten, drugged and flown to Afghanistan, where he was interrogated for months. He says he was released in May 2004.

For Merkel’s government, which took power last month, the case is a disturbing echo from the Schroeder era. Steinmeier was Schroeder’s chief of staff. He said he learned of it from Masri’s lawyer.

Former Interior Minister Otto Schily has said that then-U.S. Ambassador Daniel R. Coats informed him only after Masri had been freed. Schily said Coats asked him to keep the matter quiet.

In recent days, politicians have criticized Schily for not publicly condemning the alleged kidnapping and for choosing to protect American secrets over the rights of a German citizen. Merkel said after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week that Washington had admitted to mistakenly detaining Masri. U.S. officials quickly denied that assertion, and have said they will not comment on the ongoing case.

“The U.S. has violated certain standards in its fight against terror,” said Gregor Gysi, a member of the leftist Die Linke party. “We need to draw a clear line between us and the U.S., even though the U.S. is an ally.”

In his interview with The Times, Masri said he believed that German intelligence officials knew of, and perhaps assisted in, his detention. He said that while he was imprisoned, he met several times with a man who gave his name only as Sam. Masri said Sam spoke perfect German and accompanied him on a flight from Afghanistan to Albania, where he was released.

“I suspect the Germans knew I was being held because the Americans had information that had to come from the German authorities,” Masri said. He added that he was asked about his wife’s car registration and what he knew about a man suspected of having terrorist ties who attended the same mosque as Masri in Ulm, Germany.

Masri’s lawsuit makes similar accusations. It states that Sam warned Masri “that as a condition of his release, [he] was never to mention what had happened to him, because the Americans were determined to keep the affair a secret.”

It was disclosed during the Masri debate, however, that intelligence officials had contact with at least one German citizen held by the United States. German authorities have interviewed a suspect being held at the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

“This is an extraordinarily alarming event when German officials cooperate in such measures,” said Guido Westerwelle, leader of the Free Democrats. “A state of justice cannot allow this.”

Steinmeier contended that “we could not detect that this so-called agent Sam is connected to any German police or intelligence service.”

“The federal German police have between September 2004 and January 2005 put in half a dozen requests to U.S. officials for answers,” he said.

Max Stadler, a member of the Free Democrats, told Steinmeier it was inexcusable for the government not to have answers.

“You have said you didn’t violate laws in the Masri case,” he said. “I don’t think that this is sufficient. Sometimes situations require more than just not violating laws.”

Times staff writer Christian Retzlaff contributed to this report.