[JURIST] The United States will not help Germany investigate the alleged abduction of Khaled el-Masri [JURIST news archive], a Lebanese born German citizen who claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] seized him in Macedonia in 2003 in an instance of extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive], the German Justice Ministry [official website, in German] said Sunday. El-Masri has sued the CIA [case materials] in the United States for allegedly holding him at a secret Afghanistan prison for five months, subjecting him to inhumane conditions and coercive interrogation, and eventually releasing him in Albania in 2004 without charge. A federal judge in May dismissed the lawsuit [order, PDF; JURIST report] on state secrets ground, but the American Civil Liberties Union has said that it will "continue to pursue a fair hearing" for el-Masri [press release]. The US Justice Department [official website] reportedly told the German Justice Ministry that it cannot help in Germany's investigation because of the lawsuit against the CIA.

In June, a German investigator announced that no evidence has surfaced to disprove [JURIST report] the extraordinary rendition allegations brought by el-Masri, adding that an alleged German-speaking captor on the plane to Afghanistan was not necessarily a German agent or official. AP has more.