Washington - Khaled el-Masri, who claims the CIA kidnapped and tortured him, recounted his story on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and said he hoped he could help prevent others from suffering a similar fate.
The Kuwaiti-born German citizen said he had brought his story to Washington to encourage greater oversight of CIA activities and force the US government to acknowledge what happened to him.
"I really want to raise awareness in the Congress so that they can bring some pressure to bear and make changes," el-Masri said in German after he briefed Senate aides.
A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., heard arguments Tuesday by el-Masri's lawyers urging the judges to reinstate his lawsuit against a former CIA director, George Tenet, and others.
Discussing the case, el-Masri told reporters, "What really matters to me is that I would like to know why this was done to me, and I want an explanation and an apology."
He added, "I think that we can all benefit from what happens in my case, including others who are still in prison in other parts of the world without the rule of law."
El-Masri alleges he was kidnapped while trying to enter Macedonia for a vacation on Dec. 31, 2003. He claims he was flown to a CIA-run prison known as the "salt pit" in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was beaten and sodomized with an object during five months in captivity.
"The conditions that I was confronted with were not fit for a human," he told reporters. He said his food was barely edible and the water putrid.
"It was like water you left in an aquarium for years," he said. "When you took one sip, the taste stayed in your mouth for hours." More on the story.
4 comments:
Oh great now I'm being monitored?
"Comment deleted
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1:47 PM"
Three comments I wrote got nixed. They are under the White Castle picture. And I did not do it.
"Oh great now I'm being monitored?"
"Comment deleted
This post has been removed by the blog administrator.
1:47 PM"
Chicago Native:
Wait a minute.. Your comments got nixed.. I haven't deleted anyone comments on my blog.. Are you referring to your blog?
Well, I am not monitoring people;s comments on here because I only have a selective people who blog here.. I will only delete comments if bloggers are advertising without my consent or any comments that are highly sensitive, So, rest assured, if you put any comments on this blog, I never deleted it.
No it was my blog and I did not delete. If I did then it would say deleted and not "blog administrator"
so it's on mine under the White Castle picture. No I know it wasn't you, but someone else must have sent something to the "Blogger" because I have made some bad spelling errors and deleted a comment to correct something.....and it just says comment deleted and not "blogger Administrator" so someone turned me in? Maybe I ranted & raved about the Toddler? maybe he or someone did a search? I don't know? what is your thoughts here?
Comment deleted
This post has been removed by the author.
This is the normal post if you, I or another blogger deleted something. That is why post has been removed ty the blog administrator? must mean someone contacted someone to get something removed.
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