US Attorney Says Proceedings Could Threaten National Security

An unusual federal lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan by five terrorism suspects who want compensation for the company's role in their alleged torture was dismissed during the Bush administration, but was appealed in a hearing Monday before a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

KPIX-5 in San Francisco reports the five -- who are citizens of Ethiopia, Egypt, Italy, Iraq and Yemen -- all say they were tortured in foreign countries where they were sent by the US Central Intelligence Agency before winding up as detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

As ANN reported in June 2007, the suspects seek to sue Jeppesen for its role in providing logistical support for the CIA flights which took them to Egypt, Morocco, and Afghanistan.

Thirty-year-old Ethiopian Binyam Mohamed says that during 18 months in Morocco after his arrest in 2002, he was routinely beaten unconscious, and cut all over his body with a scalpel. Then, he says he was taken to a CIA-run facility in Afghanistan called "the Dark Prison," where he was further beaten, hung from a pole by his arms, deprived of sleep, blasted with noise and lost 40 to 60 pounds.

So far, the Justice Department says it will continue its motions to dismiss, based on the premise that state secrets would be revealed in a trial, and the greater public good is served by dismissal of the lawsuit.

The American Civili Liberties Union, which is representing the plaintiffs, is hoping President Obama will hold true to his campaign rhetoric. As ACLU attorney Ben Wizner puts it, "This case presents the first test of the Obama administration's dedication to transparency and willingness to act on its condemnation of torture and rendition."

It doesn't appear the Obama administration will take a notably different view of the case than the previous administration did. On Monday, the US Attorney opened with a statement saying the federal goverment's position hasn't changed since the case was last tried in 2007 -- that allowing the case to proced could compromise national security, so it should be thrown out.

"This was an early test of how far the Obama Administration is willing to go to rollback its predecessor's penchant for secrecy," noted Andrew Cohen, legal analyst for CBS News, "and the answer is, 'not much."

The ACLU disputes the secrecy argument. "Government officials at the highest levels have spoken publicly, repeatedly and in detail about the CIA's rendition and detention program."

The court is expected to consider the case and issue a ruling at a later date.

FMI: www.aclu.org, http://cfs.jeppesen.com/