GERMANY:Prosecutors in Munich have called for the arrest of 13 US citizens and former CIA agents they allege were involved in the illegal kidnapping of a German citizen four years ago.
The request, forwarded to Berlin to be sent to Washington, puts the German government in a dilemma. If it proceeds with the case - dubbed "an annoyance" by US officials - it risks damaging fragile transatlantic relations, while not proceeding with the case risks damaging credibility at home.
The case involves Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, who says he was removed from a bus on the Serbian-Macedonia border on December 31st, 2003, and interrogated for 23 days. He alleges he was then blindfolded, drugged and flown to a prison, in a process known as "extraordinary rendition", where he was subjected to inhumane conditions and torture.
Last year the government in Berlin agreed to issue an international arrest warrant for persons unknown.
Now prosecutors in Munich say they have identified 13 officials involved and are pressing for action. One of the men identified, a 51-year-old former Green Beret soldier who lives in Washington, is said to be the man who drugged Mr el-Masri during his abduction.
Either way, the case will burden security co-operation between US and German secret services. An unnamed US official told Der Spiegel yesterday it was "problematic" if Berlin expected to benefit from US intelligence-gathering in private, yet prosecute its agents in public. A similar case in Italy involving abductions of an Italian citizen by US spies was frozen last week, prompting claims of political interference.