[JURIST] CIA inspector general John Helgerson [official profile] has launched an investigation into fewer than ten cases of possibly erroneous rendition [JURIST news archive], according to an intelligence official quoted by AP. In several cases it is believed that either the wrong person was captured, or the person later turned out to have no links to terrorism. The disclosed number of erroneous cases being investigated is lower than expected by many observers in light of suggestions that rendition has been a common agency strategy in the "war on terror.". Rights groups [ACLU rendition factsheet; HRW backgrounder] have said that rendition allows the US to avoid judicial safeguards and have expressed concerns that foreign countries will not abide by anti-torture policies or release suspects when exonerated. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the CIA [JURIST report] on behalf of a German man who claimed he was wrongly captured in Macedonia and taken to a secret CIA facility in Afghanistan in 2003. AP has more.