CIA Officer: We 'Broke the Law' With Kidnapping

Case pits human rights against national security, says judge

(NEWSER) - A federal appeals court has dismissed a case brought on behalf of five people who are charging that they were tortured in secret CIA prisons abroad. The sharply divided court ruled that the case against Jeppesen Dataplan, a Boeing subsidiary which allegedly assisted the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, should not proceed because of the risk of revealing state secrets, the New York Times reports. More»

2003 case is first to challenge practice of extraordinary rendition

(AP) - An Italian judge today convicted 23 Americans of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric on a Milan street, in a landmark case involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program in the war on terrorism. Judge Oscar Magi acquitted three other Americans, citing diplomatic immunity. Former Milan CIA station chief Robert Seldon Lady received the stiffest sentence, eight years in prison. The other 22 each received a five-year sentence. All were tried in absentia. More»

Canadian sent to Syria plans to appeal

(NEWSER) - A Canadian citizen sent to Syria after being mistakenly arrested at JFK Airport cannot sue US authorities, a court has ruled. Maher Arar, who says he was tortured during the year he was held in Syrian custody, was told by a New York court that it has no legal right to intervene in the case, the BBC reports. The court ruled that only Congress has the authority to decide whether victims of "extraordinary" rendition could be awarded damages. More»

(AP) - In late 2007, a year after the Bush administration abandoned its harshest interrogation methods, CIA operatives used severe sleep deprivation tactics against a terror detainee twice, keeping him awake for 5 and then 6 straight days, with permission from government lawyers to go over the 4-day limit. Interrogators kept the unidentified detainee awake by forcing him to stand with his arms chained above heart level, jerking on the chains if he nodded out, according to an internal CIA report released this week. More»

Panel Republicans decry inquiry as partisan politics

(NEWSER) - The House Intelligence Committee will investigate whether the CIA lied to Congress and violated the National Security Act, the Hill reports. The probe stems from claims by new CIA chief Leon Panetta and Rep. Nancy Pelosi that the agency regularly misled Congress. More»