Court rules Binyam Mohamed cannot sue CIA over alleged torture ... would expose secrets

Daily Mail ^ | September 10 2010 | Stephen Foley

[tlb]

Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Binyam Mohamed has been barred by United States judges from suing over his alleged torture.

They ruled that his claims against the CIA cannot be aired in an American court because it could compromise national security.

Critics blasted the decision as shutting out torture victims from justice, while providing 'complete immunity to their torturers'.

They were fighting for the right to sue airline company Jeppesen Dataplan, a Boeing subsidiary accused of arranging the CIA's torture flights.

Despite initially being allowed to go ahead with the case, last year, the Obama administration appealed and now the US court of appeal for the ninth circuit has narrowly come down on the side of the government - although the judges were divided by six to five on the decision.

Judge Raymond Fisher announced the panel had 'reluctantly' concluded there were 'legitimate national security concerns' at stake which meant that the case should not be heard.

Ben Wizner, a lawyer for the ACLU, told the New York Times: 'To this date, not a single victim of the Bush administration's torture programme has had his day in court.

'That makes this a sad day not only for the torture survivors who are seeking justice in this case, but for all Americans who care about the rule of law and our nation's reputation in the world.

'If this decision stands, the United States will have closed its courts to torture victims while providing complete immunity to their torturers.'

[tlb]

Overly wordy title: Court rules Binyam Mohamed cannot sue CIA over alleged torture in Guantanamo because legal case would expose secrets

Must have been a painful story to publish.

[Texas Fossil]

'That makes this a sad day not only for the torture survivors who are seeking justice in this case

Poor little terrorists. /s I am not buying.

[Grut]

Not really very happy with this. If ‘state secrets’ keep the case from being heard, the plaintiff should win by default. There’s just too much potential for abuse, otherwise.