On 13 December 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in a landmark decision, found for the first time that standard CIA techniques amounted to torture. This is the first condemnation, by an international court, of the CIA practice of renditions and secret detentions and sends a strong message to the member States that their co-operation in matters of terrorism prevention must comply with human rights obligations.
The Court in El-Masri v the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia found that Macedonia had violated the prohibition against torture for its role in the applicant’s abduction and rendition. This is the first time the Court has found a European state accountable for its involvement in secret US-led programmes.
In December 2003, the Macedonian authorities wrongly suspected the applicant, a Lebanese born German citizen, of being linked with al-Qaeda and arrested him after he entered Macedonia from Serbia. He was held incommunicado in the Macedonian capital of Skopje for 23 days during which time he was sodomised, beaten, tortured, repeatedly interrogated and threatened with being shot if he tried to leave.
In January 2004 he was handed over to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents and "rendered" to a CIA prison outside of Kabul in Afghanistan where he was subjected to enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment for a further four months. He was not charged with any crime, his detention was not subject to judicial review and he did not have access to legal representation.
The CIA ultimately realised that it had mistaken the applicant for an al-Qaida suspect with a similar name but held on to him for weeks after that. In May 2004, El-Masri was put on a plane and flown, blindfolded, ear-muffed and chained to his seat, to Albania where he was dumped on the roadside near a border crossing. El Masri managed to return to Germany where he made a complaint to the German police.
The German authorities launched a criminal investigation which found that Mr Masri was telling the truth. However, the investigation was dropped before charges could be brought following pressure from the US government. El Masri attempted to seek legal redress in the US but the lawsuit was dismissed on “state secret” grounds.
The ECtHR unanimously found in the applicants favour and found that there were breaches of Articles 3 (torture), 5 (unlawful detention), 8 (private life), and 13 (right to an effective remedy). The Court found Macedonia responsible for the torture and degrading treatment of the plaintiff not only on Macedonian soil, but also in Afghanistan after his transfer to the US authorities. The Court ordered Macedonia to pay El Masri €60,000 as compensation. Mr Masri has not yet received an apology or any form of compensation from the United States.
The case marks an important precedent as it sets out that proper procedures are expected in rendition cases and countries will be prosecuted if they fail to provide same.
Click here to read the judgment in full
Click here to read a UK Human Rights Blog article on the judgment
Click here to read Human Rights in Ireland blog article
On 13 of December 2012, Amnesty International Ireland called for a full, independent investigation into the use of Shannon Airport to support CIA rendition operations. It has emerged that the plane used by the CIA to transfer El Masri landed at Shannon Airport on 17 January 2004 on its way to pick him up in Skopje. According to Colm O’Gormon “The Irish Government knew that the CIA used Shannon Airport as part of their renditions operations……The plane used by the CIA to take Mr El-Masri out of Macedonia, to be tortured in a US-run prison in Kabul, came via Shannon.”
Click here to read a Journal article
Click here to view an Amnesty International Ireland press release