Did CIA kidnap vacationer? It's a state secret.

[babylonsister]

Did CIA kidnap vacationer? It's a state secret.
At issue is whether the White House has the power to keep an alleged victim from seeking redress in US courts.
By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the September 19, 2007 edition
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In December 2003, German citizen Khaled el-Masri boarded a bus in Germany for a holiday in Skopje, Macedonia.

Instead of a restful vacation, the Muslim man of Lebanese heritage says he ended up in a Central Intelligence Agency isolation cell in Afghanistan as a suspected terrorist. He was released after five months of interrogation with no explanation justifying the action or apology if it was a mistake.

Now, nearly four years later, his lawyers are asking the US Supreme Court to examine whether the Bush administration has the power to prevent Mr. Masri from seeking recourse in American courts.

Masri's lawyers claim that the CIA kidnapped and tortured an innocent man. The government has never responded directly to the accusation. Instead, Justice Department lawyers asked a US judge to throw the case out of court to prevent disclosure of state secrets. He did.

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0919/p01s08-usju.html

[libodem]

1. to throw it out of court is so unfair

it's not my America!

[babylonsister]

2. I hear you. That poor man was put through the grinder and has no

recourse. That's why habeas corpus was so important. And we failed there, too.