Boeing Subsidiary May Have Provided Extraordinary Rendition Flights for CIA

A Boeing Co. subsidiary that may have provided secret CIA flight services was sued Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three terrorism suspects who claim they were tortured by the U.S. government.^[1] The lawsuit alleges that flight services provided by Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. enabled the secret transportation of the suspects to secret prisons, where they were tortured and subjected to other "forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."^[2]

The ACLU said the company "either knew or reasonably should have known" that they were facilitating the torture of terrorism suspects by providing flight services for the CIA.^[3] Companies "are not allowed to have their heads in the sand, and take money from the CIA to fly people, hooded and shackled, to foreign countries to be tortured," ACLU attorney Ben Wizner said.^[4]

Jeppesen Dataplan says it provides services such as flight plans, fuel and airport data to airlines, private pilots and various companies, but it doesn't ask its customers for details of their business.^[5] "We don't know the purpose of the trip for which we do a flight plan.....We don't need to know specific details. It's the customer's business, and we do the business that we are contracted for...It's not our practice to ever inquire about the purpose of a trip," said Mike Pound, a spokesman for the Englewood, Colo.-based Jeppesen.^[6]

The three detainees have claimed through their family and lawyers that they have been tortured and abused against universally accepted legal standards. One claimed to have been routinely tortured under interrogation about al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.^[7]

The cases involve the alleged mistreatment of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen, in July 2002 and January 2004; Elkassim Britel, an Italian citizen, in May 2002; and Ahmed Agiza, an Egyptian citizen, in December 2001; Mohamed is currently being held at GTMO in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; The ACLU alleges the suspects were apprehended under the U.S. government's "extraordinary rendition program."^[8]

Extraordinary rendition is the covert arrest and relocation of suspects to be detained and interrogated in countries where the protection of U.S. laws do not apply. We have previously discussed extraordinary renditions, here.

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^[1] Pat Milton, ACLU: Boeing offshoot helped CIA, Associated Press Newswire May 30, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.

U.S.Will Not Send CIA Agents to Italy Without Assurances

The United States will reject any extradition requests by Italy for the CIA agents involved a U.S. "extraordinary renditions" criminal trial, a U.S. government lawyer said on Wednesday.^[1] "We've not got an extradition request from Italy.... If we got an extradition request from Italy, we would not extradite U.S. officials to Italy," U.S. State Department legal adviser John Bellinger said, he then added that the United States would never hand over a suspect to another country without assurances about their treatment.^[2]

Bellinger acknowledged the widespread European concern about the tactics of the Bush administration in the "war on terror," but said the risk of legal action against U.S. officials in Europe was harming intelligence cooperation.^[3] "The continuing threat of criminal charges not only harms cooperation on our end but does also cast a pall over cooperation on the European side as well," he said.^[4]

Bellinger's remarks were not surprising given the U.S. aggressive approach in the war on terror; the indictees will most likely stand trial in absentia on June 8.^[5] Among those indicted for the 2003 abduction are Jeff Castelli, former CIA chief in Rome, former CIA Milan station chief Robert Lady and a former head of Italy's SISMI military intelligence agency, Nicolo Pollari.^[6]

We have previously discussed the CIA extraditions to Italy, here.
We have previously discussed Extraordinary Renditions, here.

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^[1] U.S. says it will not extradite CIA agents to Italy, Reuters, February 28, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.

Extraordinary Rendition Case Thrown Out Again

Khaled El-Masri, a Lebanese German citizen, alleges that he was mistakenly identified as a terrorist, and was kidnapped by the CIA on New Year's Eve 2003.^[1] He claims he was then flown to a CIA-run prison known as the "salt pit" in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was beaten and sodomized with an object during five months in captivity. The U.S. government has neither confirmed nor denied el-Masri's account.^[2]

El-Masri was trying to sue the U.S. government for $75,000 in damages; the U.S. District Court dismissed the suit that centered on the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program.^[3]

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's dismissal of el-Masri's lawsuit against former CIA director George Tenet and others saying the danger that state secrets could be revealed outweighs a German man's claims that the CIA tortured him in an Afghan prison.^[4] Judge Robert King said the only way that el-Masri could mount his case was by using "evidence that exposes how the CIA organizes, staffs and supervises its most sensitive intelligence operations."^[5] The court continued to say that under the state secrets doctrine, the United States may prevent the disclosure of information in a judicial proceeding if "there is a reasonable danger" that such disclosure "will expose military matters which, in the interest of national security, should not be divulged."^[6]


Human rights advocates have frequently criticized the "extraordinary rendition" program, and they are concerned that this ruling essentially gives the CIA carte blanche when they are interrogating suspects.^[7] Ben Wizner, an ACLU lawyer who is representing el-Masri, said "[w]hat's most troubling about this is it literally grants the CIA complete immunity to engage in any kind of misconduct."^[8]

We have spoken previously about extraordinary rendition kidnappings, here.

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^[1] CIA torture lawsuit thwarted again, AP (via MSNBC), March 2, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Extraordinary rendition is the name of the program where terrorist suspects are captured and taken to foreign countries for interrogation. Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] El-Masri v. United States, No. 06-1667, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 4796, at *12-13 (4th Cir. Mar. 2, 2007) (quoting, United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1, 10, 97 L. Ed. 727 (1953)).
^[7] AP, supra note 1.
^[8] Id.

31 Indicted for Italian Kidnapping: Nasr

An Italian judge indicted 26 Americans and five Italians Friday, February 16, in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect in a Milan street.^[1] The judge set a trial date for June 8, in what would be the first criminal trial stemming from the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program.^[2]

Prosecutors allege that five Italian intelligence officials worked with the Americans to seize Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr on Feb. 17, 2003.^[3] Nasr was then allegedly transferred by vehicle to the Aviano Air Force base near Venice, then by air to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and on to Egypt, where his lawyer says he was tortured.^[4]

All but one of the Americans have been identified as CIA agents, and even if a request is made for their extradition, it is unlikely that the CIA agents would be turned over to Italy for prosecution.^[5] However, in Italy defendants can be tried in absentia, thus all of the U.S. agents have court-appointed lawyers, who have acknowledged having no contact with their clients.^[6] Prosecutors say the alleged kidnapping operation was an infringment of Italian sovereignty that compromised Italy’s own anti-terrorism efforts.^[7] Alessia Sorgato and Guido Meroni, a lawyer representing six Americans, have argued that the evidence connecting their clients to Nasr’s disappearance was circumstantial, based on phone records and their presence in locations in Italy during the period before the abduction.^[8]

Although he was under investigation for terrorism-related activities at the time of his abduction, no charges have ever been brought against Nasr. Nasr fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia and was suspected of recruiting fighters for radical Islamic causes.^[9]

We have previously discussed this case here and here.

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^[1] Colleen Barry, 31 to Stand Trial in CIA Kidnapping Case, AP (via Houston Chronicle), February 16, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] Id.

Update- CIA Kidnapping of Terrorist

Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, Egyptian cleric and terrorist suspect also known as Abu Omar, was granted political asylum in Italy. Omar, who was under suspicion of involvement in international terrorism at the time of his disappearance, was allegedly kidnapped in 2003 by CIA operatives and flown to Egypt.^[1]

Prosecutors have entered into evidence a handwritten letter from Omar describing his abduction and torture in prison.^[2] Omar was allegedly smuggled out of that prison and is currently being held in a police station in Alexandria, Egypt.^[3]

The Italian prosecutors previously reviewed whether or not to request extradition of the CIA agents, which we previously discussed here.^[4] Prosecutors may also indict five Italian secret service officials in the extraordinary rendition case, in which terror suspects are transferred the third world countries.^[5] Prosecutors say the operation was a breach of Italian sovereignty that interfered with their anti-terrorism efforts.^[6] The CIA has refused to comment.^[7]

One of the indicted Americans, Robert Seldon Lady, a former CIA station chief previously argued that he had diplomatic immunity which we wrote about in an update to the case.^[8] Mr. Seldon Lady’s lawyer, Daria Pesce, withdrew from the case shortly after hearings on Tuesday on whether to indict him and 25 other Americans.^[9] Pesce stated that “Seldon Lady says this case should have a political solution not a judicial solution.” ^[10] Seldon Lady was the only American who hired a lawyer; the Italian court has already appointed a new lawyer for him.^[11]

Nicolo Pollari, the former head of the military intelligence is also a suspect.^[12] His defense lawyers say they will try to call as witnesses Italy’s former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, current prime minister Romano Prodi, as well as their defense ministers, a request that will probably strain U.S.-Italian relations.^[13]

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[1] Collen Barry, Associated Press, Italian Lawyer in CIA Case Withdraws, January 9, 2007.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13]Id.

Extraordinary Rendition—Foreign Government Acquiescence

The lawyer representing six Guantanamo Bay prisoners has addressed a European Parliament committee, telling the committee that his clients were “extradited” from Bosnia on a plane that took off from Germany and also stopped in Turkey, picking up other detainees on along the way.^[1] “Extradited” is not the appropriate word in this situation, because there is no evidence or suggestion that any of the individuals who ended up in Guantanamo Bay had any sort of judicial process. The six individuals in question, Alegerians—four of whom had Bosnian citizenship, were arrested in October 2001, and in a “well-documented case, Bosnian authorities handed them over to U.S. authorities in a secret late-night operation in 2002, just a few hours before the country’s human rights court was to order their release for lack of evidence.”^[2]

What Stephen Oleksey argued before the committee—that, for example, Bosnian authorities are complicit in the rendition because they were afraid that US “assistance to the Balkan country would otherwise be suspended” if they did not arrest the individuals^[3]—has a strong ring of truth. Clear on the other side of the world, in Bangladesh, the US’s new ambassador—Patricia A. Butenis—has told that country that the “United States will provide assistance to Bangladesh to fight terrorism and hold free and fair national elections.”^[4] This is due, in part, to the arrest of “two Islamist militants blamed for a spate of bombings in Bangladesh last year,” and it probably can also be attributed to the alleged rendition of Mr. Sadequee, which we discussed yesterday.

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[1] Jan Silva, Lawyer Says Plane Transferring Algerian Suspects to Guantanamo Originated in Germany, Associated Press (via Free New Mexican), Apr. 25, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Washington to Help Dhaka Fight Terrorism, Daily Times (Pakistan), Apr. 25, 2006.