Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government was not involved in the alleged abduction of Khaled el-Masri by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said here Wednesday.

Steinmeier, who served as adviser to Schroeder before Angela Merkel's government took office last month, said in parliament that the German authorities got to know the alleged abduction only after el-Masri returned to Germany in June last year following a notice from his lawyer.

The German government pursued the case with vigor at home and abroad, he said, rejecting opposition parties' criticism that it did not take any actions.

He said that the authorities had probed the case as a possible crime.

German lawmakers have pressed the government for information on el-Masri, a German of Lebanese origin, who was wrongly arrested last year by the CIA in Macedonia and detained for months in Afghanistan.

The case of el-Masri has caused an uproar in Germany and prompted a fresh outburst of criticism of US tactics in the war on terrorism.

Steinmeier said the government's record of action in the case is "proof what a country governed by law must do when there's evidence that one of its citizens has fallen victim to a crime."

The government "played no part in the kidnapping" of el-Masri, he said, adding officials "including myself only found out after his release."

Source: Xinhua