US will not aid Germany in el-Masri rendition investigation News
US will not aid Germany in el-Masri rendition investigation

[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.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Stalin born

On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.