U.S. Court of Appeals Dismisses C.I.A. Torture Case
Decision Made to Conceal Secret Data
Andrew Pooch
A United States Court of Appeals has recently dismissed a case alleging C.I.A. torture with a vote of 6-5. The decision was reached on the basis that it may expose secret government information.
The suit was brought against the company, Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. This company is a subsidiary of Boeing. They are tied into the case, because they were responsible for transporting captives to other countries. These captives would then be imprisoned and interrogated.
The American Civil Liberties Union brought the case to court on behalf of the five prisoners that were allegedly tortured. The prisoners were tortured in captivity and accused Jeppesen of being part of the government’s rendition program.
Extraordinary rendition in a term used in the case of transferring captives to other countries in order to torture them. This is usually a case when C.I.A. will capture terrorists and transfer them to locations where interrogation takes place to get answers.
The New York Times reported that this case involves whether the president can apply the states-secrets privilege to shut down entire lawsuits or be limited to withholding pieces of secret information.
According to investigativereport.org the government made arguments that there was no way to litigate the case without disclosing certain facts. The first was that there might be information that would confirm or deny Jeppesen or any other private firm assisting C.I.A in intelligence activities. The case could uncover information about any foreign government cooperating with the C.I.A. The details about the C.I.A’s terrorist detention or interrogation programs might be uncovered. Or, any other details of intelligence activities, sources or methods were a concern for the government.
This case began in early 2009, when a district court dismissed the case. Then a smaller panel of judges heard the case and decided that the case should proceed. This led to an appeal by Obama’s Administration. A panel of eleven judges came to a narrow decision to overturn the small panel ruling.
The explanation for the overturning according to jurist.org was, “holding that in some ‘rare’ circumstances, it may be impossible for a suit to proceed at all without inevitably compromising national security.”
The New York Times highlighted the story of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian man who lives in Britain. He was captured in Pakistan and bounced around from prison to prison, where he was brutally tortured. His journey went from where he was captured in Pakistan to Morocco, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Now he is free and living in London. He did not get justice in court.
A.C.L.U staff attorney Ben Wizner expressed his concerns with the ruling saying, “This is a sad day not only for the torture victims ... but for all Americans who care about the rule of law. To date, not a single victim of the Bush administration's torture program has had his day in court."
The A.C.L.U promises to appeal this ruling to the United States Supreme Court. They would like to see how far the presidential power reacts in matters of counterterrorism.
Word Count: 529
Sources:
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2010/09/appellate-court-dismisses-private-torture-suit
New York Times September 9, 2010
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