[JURIST] A German probe into the US detention of Murat Kurnaz [AI case sheet; JURIST news archive], a Turkish citizen born in Germany who was held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] for nearly five years, is being delayed because official documents are being withheld by authorities in the state of Bremen, the chairman of the government investigation committee said Thursday. Siegfried Kauder [personal website] said he had received confirmation weeks ago from Bremen authorities that the documents would arrive soon. The papers are reported to include reports by German intelligence that link Kurnaz to radical Islamists. Reuters has more.

US officials in Pakistan arrested Kurnaz shortly after September 11 and kept him in custody at Guantanamo from 2002 until 2006. Kurnaz has alleged he suffered abuse and torture [Deutsche Welle report] as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay; last October Germany opened an investigation [JURIST report] into the charges. In response to growing criticism [JURIST report] of the circumstances behind Kurnaz' detention, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier [BBC profile] has denied [JURIST report] that he knew about a US offer to release Kurnaz to Germany in 2002, notwithstanding a finding by a committee of the European parliament investigating CIA activity in Europe [JURIST report] that Germany refused the offer and extended Kurnaz' detention for three years.