The Spanish connection in the al Masri case [Update 2]

Previous coverage of the Khaled al Masri case can be found here:
http://www.wlcentral.org/node/374

On the 2nd of December, Wikileaks released a second cable about the al Masri case. It was written at the US embassy in Madrid on the 28th of December 2006.
http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2006/12/06MADRID3104.html

It describes an investigation into flights departing from Spanish soil. Al Masri was said to have been on one of these flights. The cable also names the thirteen people who were accused of participating in the abduction.

At around the same time, there was an active investigation in Germany into the role of thirteen CIA officers in the same matter (please see previous post for details).

This new cable confirms that it was a CIA flight.

The cable quotes press reports indicating that five of the thirteen people on board held diplomatic passports.

The comments by the author of the cable are thus: the Spanish government stated that no crimes were committed on Spanish territory. The judge emphasized that he had indeed jurisdiction over cases of torture that were committed on foreign soil. The prosecutor is well known at the US embassy and he is expected to respect the wishes of the Spanish government. The judge might get territorial about his jurisdiction.

Update 1: In the meantime, Wikileaks published another cable relevant to the al-Masri case. It was written at the 1st of February 2007 in Madrid. It can be found here:
http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/02/07MADRID173.html

The author voices concern about the cooperation of the German and Spanish prosecution, which "will complicate our efforts to manage this case at a discreet government-to-government level."

The flights under scrutiny were:
- Algiers to Palma to Skopje on January 22, 2004
- Guantanamo to Tenerife to Constanza, Romania on April 12,2004, and
- Madrid to Luxor, Egypt on December 16, 2003.

The cable again confirms that these were indeed CIA flights. The Spanish authorities had the names of 13 CIA personnel operating the flights. Some of these names were said to be false, but apparently the prosecution obtained photographs of three of them from hotel records in Palma de Mallorca. The author of the cable seems to be worried about the developments.

Update 2: Democracy Now on the al Masri case and the Spanish connection:
http://is.gd/idtXA