U.S. kidnap allegation

Munich

A man who says he was kidnapped and sent to a U.S. prison in Afghanistan is being investigated by the German authorities. Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen who was born in Lebanon, claims that in December 2003, he was trying to enter Macedonia for a vacation when border guards accused him of being a terrorist and confiscated his passport. He says he was turned over to U.S. officials and sent to a prison in Afghanistan, where he was beaten, injected with drugs, and photographed naked during five months of interrogations. He was then released without charge. German prosecutors believe el-Masri may have been mistaken for an al Qaida operative with a similar name. U.S. officials refused to comment.