RIGHTS-US:
”Rendition” Case Takes a New Twist
William Fisher
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (IPS) - The U.S. Department of Justice may make legal history in seeking to dismiss a lawsuit on behalf of a U.S. citizen being held in Saudi Arabia without publicly disclosing its reasons, citing an ”extraordinarily high” government interest in protecting national security issues in the case.
Other instances in which courts based their decisions on ”secret information” have dealt with denial of a job or pilot's license. This case is about a man's freedom.
The citizen is Ahmed Abu Ali, a 23-year-old student who was arrested in Saudi Arabia in June 2003 while taking an exam at the University of Medina, and has since been held in a Saudi prison without charge or access to legal counsel.
Saudi authorities claim they have no case against Ali, and that his detention is at the behest of the U.S. government. The U.S. government responds it had nothing to do with his arrest or imprisonment, but has declined to publicly produce any evidence to document this claim.
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27435