[JURIST] The German Defense Ministry [official website] has denied allegations that a suspected al-Qaida operative was beaten while in military custody. German newspaper Die Welt Saturday quoted a Ministry report that 32 operatives of Germany's KSK special forces [Wikipedia backgrounder] in Afghanistan [JURIST news archive] knew that Murat Kurnaz [Amnesty profile] had been arrested by the US military in neighboring Pakistan [JURIST news archive] but that reports of beatings were "not confirmed." Kurnaz, dubbed the "Taliban of Bremen" by German media, was accused by the United States of being an "enemy combatant" and transferred to Kandahar, Afghanistan after his apprehension. The German-born Turk alleges that it he was beaten by five KSK soldiers while in Kandahar. He was released [JURIST report] from Guantanamo Bay prison [JURIST news archive] to German custody in August.

In October, a lawyer for Kurnaz claimed that his client had been beaten [JURIST report] by German soldiers in Afghanistan and that he had been subjected to torture, physical abuse and sexual humiliation by US interrogators while at Guantanamo. Kurnaz, 24, is currently cooperating with investigations by the German parliament and the defense ministry. AFP has more.