The men dressed in black clothing and ski masks were members of a United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) "black renditions" team, who were operating under the U.S. "extraordinary rendition" program.
Flight records show that on January 23, 2004, a Boeing 737 business jet owned by a U.S.-based corporation, Premier Executive Transportation Services, Inc., operated by another U.S.-based corporation, Aero Contractors Limited, and registered by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration as aircraft N313P, flew El-Masri from Macedonia via Baghdad to Afghanistan.
The same plane has been identified as being involved in other rendition flights. El-Masri was detained in conditions that were inhuman and
degrading, beaten by armed guards, subjected to violent and prolonged interrogations, force-fed following a 27-day hunger strike, and denied medical treatment. He was never charged, brought before a judge, granted access to German government representatives, or allowed to communicate with his family or anyone else in the outside world. He lost some thirty kilograms while in detention.
On May 28, 2004, El-Masri's belongings were returned to him, including his passport, and he was flown on board a CIA-chartered Gulfstream aircraft with the tail number N982RK to a military airbase in Albania called Berat-Kuà §ova Aerodrome. On arrival he was driven in a car for several hours and then let out and told not to look back.
Almost immediately he was arrested by the Albanian authorities and driven to Mother Theresa Airport near Tirana where he was put on a commercial flight to Frankfurt. When he arrived at his home in Ulm, Germany, he learned that his wife and children had relocated to Lebanon, not having heard from him for more than four months.
Following a complaint from El-Masri, prosecutors in Munich opened an investigation into his allegations in June 2004. During the investigation, German officials verified from eyewitnesses that El-Masri did indeed travel to Macedonia by bus at the end of 2003, and that he had been detained shortly after entering that country.
Prosecutors also confirmed from stamps in his passport that he entered Macedonia on December 31, 2003, and exited on January 23, 2004. They conducted scientific tests of his hair that proved that he had spent time in a South Asian country and had been deprived of food for an extended period.
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