The US pressured Germany to prevent the arrest of CIA agents sought in the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen who alleges he was mistaken for a terrorist and tortured by US intelligence officials, documents released by website WikiLeaks showed, dpa reported.
US diplomat John Koenig from the embassy in Berlin warned the German government against acting on arrest warrants for 13 suspected CIA agents. He warned them to "weigh carefully at every step of the way the implications for relations with the US," the New York Times reported late Wednesday based on WikiLeaks documents.
The CIA allegedly kidnapped el-Masri in 2004 and took him to Afghanistan, where he claims to have been tortured and held for nearly six months.
The report appeared to confirm speculation within Germany that the government had not pursued the case to avoid upsetting relations with Washington.
Koenig continued to stress with German counterparts the potential negative implications for our bilateral relationship, and in particular for our counter-terrorism cooperation, if further steps are taken to seek the arrest or extradition of US citizens/officials," the documents said.
The Times also published a report detailing the extent to which the US pressured Beijing on the imprisonment of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo. The prize is to be awarded to him Friday in Oslo, even as the Chinese dissident remains in prison.