disappeared, but not silenced by the cia...

khaled el-masri was kidnapped by the cia, tortured and thrown in a secret prison in afghanistan...his fight for the truth and ameasure of justice is unraveling a web of clandestine intelligence operations and dirty diplomatic secrets...

on new year's eve, 2003, while vacationing in mcedonia, khaled el-masri was abducted, drugged, tortured and then bundled away to a notorious secret prison in afghanistan known as the salt pit...the brutal kidnapping of masri, a 43-year-old car salesman from a small german town, is one of dozens of illegal transfers of terror suspects the cia has carried out in a practice called extraordinary rendition...

during his incarceration, masri, a german citizen of lebanese descent,repeatedly pleaded his innocence and demanded counsel...in desperation, he joined a hunger strike on march 5, 2004; after 37 days u.s. officials began force-feeding him through a tube...after repeated interrogations andthe appearance of a mysterious german intelligence agent called "sam," the cia eventually concluded that masri did not, in fact, have ties to terror organizations...nearly five months after his kidnapping, masri's captors returned him to macedonia and released him on a dark and deserted roadnear the albanian border...

masri returned to his home, only to find that his wife and children had moved to be with relatives in lebanon after he had disappeared (they have reunited)...he eventually turned to european, german and u.s. courts to demand an account of his kidnapping and imprisonment... three cases are currently pending: german prosecutors are investigating a criminal case, a german parliamentary committee is looking into the german government's role in the abduction, and masri, with the help of american civil liberties union attorneys, has filed a civil suit in u.s. courts against former cia director gorge tenet...

legal proceedings in both countries had stalled, but there have been encouraging signs in recent weeks...the aclu has appealed the decision by the u.s. district court in alexandria, va., to dismiss masri v. tenet on the grounds that a trial would expose "state secrets."...in late january, after months of hesitation, german prosecutors finally issued arrest warrants against 13 cia agents suspected of involvement in the abduction...and german parliamentary hearings are continuing, despite the denials by german officials of having any role in the case...

when amnesty international magazine interviewed masri in neu-ulm, he vowed to continue his fight to end extraordinary renditions and demand an official apology for his mistreatment...

click here to read the interview that cameron abadi conducted with masri...

peace out <3