Foreign minister denies German role in CIA rendition News
Foreign minister denies German role in CIA rendition

[JURIST] Germany's new foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier [BBC profile] Saturday denied allegations that German officials may have aided the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] in the December 2003 abduction of German citizen Khaled El-Masri [ACLU profile], who has filed a lawsuit charging the US with wrongful imprisonment [JURIST report; PDF text]. An anonymous source cited in a German newspaper article Friday alleged that El-Masri may have been targeted based on information that the German government shared with the CIA [JURIST report]. Steinmeier, who was serving as chief of staff to former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder [BBC profile] when the abduction occurred, will face questions from the German parliament about the incident on Wednesday. Reuters has more.