SCOTUS refuses to hear the appeal of Khaled Masri.
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today refused to give a hearing to a German man who says he was wrongly abducted, imprisoned and tortured by the CIA in a case of mistaken identity.
Khaled Masri sued the CIA two years ago and sought damages for his five-month ordeal in a U.S.-run prison in Afghanistan.
What does El-Masri claim and what does he seek?:
In his lawsuit, Mr Masri was seeking damages of $75,000 (£37,000).
The 44-year-old alleges he was tortured during five months in detention, four months of which were spent in a prison in Kabul, Afghanistan, nicknamed the "salt pit".
On his flight to Afghanistan, he says, he was stripped, beaten, shackled, made to wear "diapers", drugged and chained to the floor of the plane.
By his account, he was finally released in Albania after the Americans realised they had got the wrong man.
The thing is it's not just El-Masri who says he was wrongfully detained. Early on CIA, George Tenet, and Condoleeza Rice all knew of El-Masri's wrongful capture and detainment:
senior U.S. officials tell NBC News that CIA realized early on, it had the wrong man — but kept him in prison anyway. They say he was kept in the primitive prison for more than a month after CIA director George Tenet was informed of the case, while officials tried to figure out a way to fix their mistake.
(snip)
In mid April, officals called a special meeting at the CIA to brief director George Tenet. An officer quotes Tenet as saying, "You’ve got an innocent guy in the Salt Pit?" Tenet said El-Masri should be released.
By May, sources say National Security Council Director Condoleezza Rice learned of the mistake and ordered El-Masri's immediate release. She said as well that the German government should be told of the incident, for diplomatic reasons. But that didn’t end the case. About two weeks later, Rice learned El-Masri was still being held and ordered him released again.
Our government confirmed the grievous error to the German government:
Two years ago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that U.S. officials admitted that Masri "had been erroneously taken."
So even though our government agrees that El-Masri was wrongfully captured and detained--(they won't stipulate to the torture, of course), he will not get his day in court, the record of the violation of his human rights will not be made, no one will be held accountable, and he will receive no reparations.
Why did SCOTUS decline the case? Their lips are sealed:
Without explaining their reasons, the justices said today that they would not hear his appeal in Masri vs. United States.
But could it perhaps be that they don't want to clarify the reach of the doctrine of state secrets, which the government has been using to try and keep El-Masri from getting his day in court?
State secrets? Or violation of U.S and International Law? The whole extraordinary rendition "program" is a transgression of law, both codified and moral, and BushCo uses "state secret" to cover it up.
Thanks, SCOTUS, for helping further kill the rule of law.
What is it that 3,817 of our military have given their lives for? Oh, yeah, democracy, and freedom being on the march and all that.