European Court Orders Macedonia to Pay Damages to Lebanese Man in Kidnapping Case

Europe's top rights court Thursday ordered Macedonia to pay 60,000 euros ($78,000) in damages to a Lebanese-born German who claims the CIA abducted him there in 2003 and flew him to Afghanistan to be tortured.

Khaled el-Masri, 48, says he was abducted by CIA operatives under the so-called extraordinary rendition program while on holiday in Macedonia and then taken to a secret Afghan prison for brutal interrogation.

In Skopje, Macedonia's justice ministry said it would "begin executing the verdict" of the European Court of Human Rights.

A source from the ministry said Skopje "will respect the verdict," but could not say when the damages would be paid to Masri.

Initially suspected of having ties to al-Qaida, he was released without charge after five months and sent back to Germany.

The ECHR said it "found Mr. el-Masri's account to be established beyond reasonable doubt and held that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had been responsible for his torture and ill-treatment both in the country itself and after his transfer to the U.S. authorities in the context of an extrajudicial rendition."

It said Masri was arrested when he arrived in Macedonia on December 31, 2003, locked up in a Skopje hotel for 23 days and grilled before being forcibly taken to Albania and then to Afghanistan.

The court said he "was severely beaten by disguised men. . . stripped and sodomized with an object" at Skopje airport before being forcibly put on an Albania-bound plane.

He was then shackled and tranquilized before being flown to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan where he was held for over four months. He was finally flown back to Germany in May 2004.

Rendition flights, in which suspects were transferred covertly to a third country or to U.S.-run detention centers, started after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Masri's lawyer Filip Medarski told Agence France Presse that they were "absolutely satisfied with the verdict."

"Our demands have been fulfilled almost in total and this is an important decision," Medarski said speaking to AFP by phone from Strasbourg.

The ECHR ruling was immediately hailed as "historic" by rights watchdog Amnesty International and the International Committee of Jurists.

A joint statement said it was the first time a European state had been "held accountable for its involvement in the secret U.S.-led programs and is a milestone in the fight against impunity."

"Macedonia is not alone. Many other European governments colluded with the USA to abduct, transfer, 'disappear' and torture people in the course of rendition operations.

"This judgment represents progress, but much more needs to be done to ensure accountability across Europe," it said.