CIA "abduction" case in appeals court

[dailykoff]

Richmond Times Dispatch, VA - 5 hours ago
Nov 28, 2006
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191915286

The federal appeals court in Richmond heard arguments this morning in a lawsuit that accuses the U.S. of human-rights violations against a German citizen who says he was mistakenly kidnapped, tortured and imprisoned for five months by the CIA.

At issue is a decision last May by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III of Alexandria to dismiss the case filed by Khaled al-Masri, 42, because proceeding could expose state secrets.

A government lawyer argued yesterday that even a seemingly innocuous piece of information could be part of a "mosaic" that, if revealed in open court, might have devastating effects on national security. He said the government can't admit or deny what al-Masri says happened to him.

Al-Masri's ACLU lawyers argued that Ellis applied the government's state-secrets privilege too broadly. They said al-Masri's allegations have already been substantiated by government officials and press reports, so there is no danger of divulging state secrets.

For a full story, see tomorrow's Times-Dispatch.

[maddezmom]

1. kick

[leQ]

2. Man Mistakenly Abducted by C.I.A. Seeks Redress

RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 28 — A lawyer for a German man who was abducted while on vacation in Macedonia and said he was tortured while in C.I.A. custody in Afghanistan urged a federal appeals court on Tuesday to reinstate his lawsuit against the agency, which had been dismissed for national security reasons.

In May, a federal trial judge threw out the suit brought by Khaled el-Masri, who said he was an innocent victim of the Central Intelligence Agency’s program of transferring terrorism suspects secretly to other countries for detention and interrogation. Judge T. S. Ellis III of Federal District Court in Alexandria said that although it appeared a great injustice might have been done to Mr. Masri, he was persuaded by the government that there was no way to even begin a trial without impermissibly disclosing state secrets.

Benjamin Wizner, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, told a three-judge appeals panel on Tuesday that the government’s position was absurd because what happened to Mr. Masri had hardly remained secret. He noted that the German government was openly investigating whether its officials had played a role in Mr. Masri’s ordeal, and numerous news accounts have quoted unidentified American officials as confirming what happened.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/washington/29rendition.html

[OneBlueSky]

3. seems there are no consequences for ANY BushCo crimes . . .

be they as small as improper credit card usage or as large as crimes against humanity, e.g starting unnecessary wars or contaminating a nation with depleted uranium . . .

why is that? . . .