Apparently, Berlin did not help Murat Kurnaz from Bremen, despite recommendations to the contrary

In the affair surrounding the illegal deportation of Murat Kurnaz, Federal Minister of the Interior Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) is increasingly on the defensive. Little by little, intelligence information is coming to light that is in stark contradiction to the SPD politician’s previous statements. Until now, Steinmeier had insisted that, as head of the German Chancellor’s Office, he had not known about an offer by the USA to release Kurnaz. This version is now more than questionable.

What did Frank-Walter Steinmeier? In the ongoing confusion over his role in the affair surrounding the years-long Guantanamo detention of Bremen’s Murat Kurnaz, the SPD politician is coming under increasing prere. The accounts of the events have changed several times in the past weeks. The former head of the Chancellor’s Office and current Minister of Defense claims to have known nothing about an offer of release by the USA. Now the opposite seems to be proven. Then last week it was said that the SPD-Green government did not want to let Kurnaz re-enter the country because of security concerns. Now an assessment of the Federal Intelligence Service from September 2002 has become public with a statement to the contrary. In the midst of this potpourri of half-truths and protective allegations, Frank-Walter Steinmeier is only sure of one thing: resignation is not an option for him.