US court rejects Binyam Mohamed torture case

A US court has narrowly ruled that Binyam Mohamed, the British resident secretly rendered to Morocco by the CIA before being held in the Guantánamo Bay prison camp for four years, cannot sue over his alleged torture in overseas prisons because it would compromise national security.

Mohamed was the lead plaintiff in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of five former prisoners who claim they were tortured after being transferred to other countries through the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme.

They are fighting for the right to sue Jeppesen Dataplan, a Boeing subsidiary accused of arranging flights for the CIA.

A US court ruled last year that the case could proceed, but the Obama administration appealed and yesterday the court of appeals for the ninth circuit dismissed the case – although the judges were divided by six to five on the decision.

Judge Raymond Fisher said the majority had "reluctantly" concluded that "legitimate national security concerns" meant the case should not be heard.

Although the alleged offences were committed under the Bush government, the decision is a victory for the Obama's administration's aggressive efforts to prevent anything it believes would jeopardise national security reaching the public domain. Earlier this year, after a British court ordered disclosure of a seven-paragraph summary of classified CIA information showing what British agents knew of Mohamed's torture, the White House said it was "deeply disappointed" by the ruling and it could have an impact on intelligence-sharing between the countries.

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