Murat Kurnaz II

[Universe Prince]

Excerpt of a UPI story: U.S. interrogation of German may strain ties with Berlin

In early January a 41-year-old German of Afghan origin walked up to the entrance of U.S. military base Waren near Kabul to shop in one of its Western-style supermarkets. The man, identified by German news magazine Der Spiegel as Gholam Ghaus Z. from Wuppertal, in western Germany, had come to Afghanistan to visit relatives. After he showed his German passport, he was let inside the base. When the man proceeded with his shopping tour in the store, where he asked for an electric shaver, he was arrested. In his pockets, authorities found a brochure depicting London's Tower Bridge, roughly $1,500 in cash (in different currencies) and phone cards from several countries. Gholam Ghaus Z. has been held as a terror suspect in a U.S. military prison at Bagram Air Base ever since. The Red Cross has visited him there and contacted his family in Germany. U.S. officials are understandably concerned: Over the past year terror attacks in Afghanistan have increased significantly, some involving extremists from Western countries. Several Germans have traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to receive terror training. The case has nevertheless developed into a diplomatic nightmare for U.S.-German relations, because this time the Americans probably have the wrong man. After extensive intelligence gathering, German security experts, Der Spiegel said, are now convinced that the 41-year-old is completely harmless. Observers fear that the whole affair will develop into a second Murat Kurnaz case -- German-born Turk Kurnaz was arrested in Pakistan in 2001 and detained as a terror suspect at Guantanamo Bay for nearly five years, despite findings by U.S. and German investigators that he had no links to terrorist groups. Kurnaz was freed and turned over to German authorities in 2006 only after German Chancellor Angela Merkel personally pleaded for his release. Kurnaz's case clouded U.S.-German relations at the time.