Supremes Won’t Hear CIA Torture Suit

Earlier dismissals rested on concerns about national security

By Jonas Oransky, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 9, 2007 3:32 PM CDT

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Supremes Won’t Hear CIA Torture Suit — German-Lebanese Khaled El-Masri waits prior to the session of the parliamentary investigation committee on the activities of Germany's secret service in Berlin in this June 22, 2006 file photo. The Supreme Court on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007, terminated a lawsuit from a man who claims he was abducted and... (Associated Press)

The Supreme Court declined today without comment to hear the case of a German citizen who claims he was kidnapped and tortured by the CIA. Lower courts had dismissed Khaled el-Masri's case on the grounds that a trial would expose state secrets. German authorities have said the US acknowledged abducting Masri, but American authorities haven’t admitted any role in the incident.

Masri says he was kidnapped in Macedonia in December 2003, abused by the CIA in Afghanistan, and then dumped on a Albanian hillside in May 2004, the Washington Post reports. The ACLU pushed his case, arguing that the administration is abusing state secrets privileges. For his part, the solicitor general called the suit an “extravagant request.” (More CIA stories.)

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