Europe court: German was victim of CIA black prisons

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Uwe Lein / AFP - Getty Images fileA leading European court ruled that German citizen Khaled El-Masri should receive damages from Macedonia over his claims he was an innocent victim of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.By Ian Johnston, NBC News, and wire reportsUpdated at 6:15 p.m. to include response from NSC:

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday in favor of a German man who claims he was mistaken for a terrorist, then kidnapped and tortured by the CIA as part of the controversial extraordinary-rendition program.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld  The court ordered that Khaled El-Masri should be paid about $78,000 in damages by Macedonia, the European country where he says he was captured before being taken to a secret prison in Afghanistan known as the "Salt Pit."

James Goldston, lead lawyer on the case and executive director of the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative, told NBC News that the ruling was significant because it was the first time a court had established "beyond reasonable doubt" that what El-Masri was saying had happened.


He said that in light of the ruling the Obama administration should apologize to El-Masri, pay damages and launch a wide-ranging investigation into his case and others like it.

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