US court refuses to revive torture suit

The United Sates Supreme Court

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180266.html

The United Sates Supreme Court has refused to re-examine a Bush-era CIA program that flew terrorism suspects to secret detention centers across the world.

An appeal had requested the court to revive a law suit challenging 'the extraordinary rendition' program, which sent alleged terrorists to secret prisons, and the 'state secrets privilege,' which allows for the dismissal of appeals under the pretext of maintaining state secrets.

A group of judges voted 6-5 in saying the case was not eligible to go forward as the information the government seeks to protect are considered to be "valid state secrets," The Huffington Post reported on Monday.

The original law suit involved five terrorism suspects who say they were arrested and flown by a Boeing Co. subsidiary to secret prisons across the world shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

The suspects sued San Jose-based Jeppesen Dataplan in 2007 for conspiring with the CIA to operate the extraordinary rendition program, which they allege amounted to illegal "forced disappearances."

The plaintiffs also argued that they should be able to prove their case using publicly disclosed evidence, claiming that the state secrets privilege was irrelevant.

The high court, however, refused the appeal as it had with several other appeals based on the government's invocation of state secrets privilege to overturn lawsuits.

Two of the five alleged terrorists remain detained in prisons in Egypt and Morocco.