Former Guantanamo inmate tells MEPs about his rendition and detention

[struggle4progress]

Derechos fundamentales - 22-11-2006 - 17:18

When Murat Kurnaz - a German resident of Turkish origin - travelled to Pakistan in late 2001 to "find himself and deepen his faith", he told MEPs on Wednesday, he was arrested by the Pakistani police. "They caught me and sold me to the Americans for 3000 or 5000 dollars," he said. Mr Kurnaz was transferred to a prison in Afghanistan and later flown to Guantanamo, where he remained until August this year when he was released without charge.

Mr Kurnaz is the first person to have been detained in Guantanamo to give evidence directly to Parliament's temporary committee investigating allegations of illegal CIA activity in Europe. His lawyer, Bernhard Docke, said there was no evidence to justify his detention - apparently on suspicion of having sought to fight for the Taliban - and that no official explanations have been given for his release last August, either from the American or the German side. He added that the German authorities had failed to help for years, on the grounds that, although born and raised in Germany, he was a citizen of Turkey. He was, however, finally released after Chancellor Angela Merkel raised his case during a visit to Washington this year ...

The German authorities have never admitted to playing a role in his arrest, rendition and prolonged detention, although Mr Kurnaz insisted that he was approached by two German soldiers from the KSK (Kommando Spezialkräfte, Special Forces Command in Afghanistan) while in detention at a Kandahar prison. "I thought they had questions for me and that maybe they could help me, but they only said: 'you have chosen the wrong side' and mistreated me. They didn't ask me any specific questions, it was not an interrogation." Once in Guantanamo, Mr Kurnaz says he received two more visits by groups of unidentified Germans, in 2002 and 2004. His lawyer believed some of them to be members of the German intelligence service ...

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/017-86-324-11-47-902-20061120IPR00069-20-11-2006-2006-false/default_es.htm