By Susan Vaughan

July 6, 2009

American Civil Liberties Union lawyers representing five victims of a US government clandestine extraordinary rendition and torture program, filed its response yesterday to US Justice Department lawyers seeking to block litigation of plaintiffs’ civil suit against Jeppesen Dataplan, a subsidiary of Boeing.

The suit, filed in 2007, claims Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., knowingly aided and abetted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its alleged kidnapping and torture of Binyam Mohamed, Abou Elkassim Britel, Ahmed Agiza, Mohamed Farag Ahmed Bashmalish, and Bisher al-Rawi, illegally flying them to multiple CIA torture facilities around the world where US laws against torture and kidnapping are unenforceable.

In February 2008 Judge James Ware of the US District Court for Northern California dismissed the suit after then CIA Director Michael Hayden claimed litigation could jeopardize state secrets and national security.

ACLU lawyers appealed Ware’s decision to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals.

In April, the court ruled unanimously in favor of plaintiffs, remanding the case back to Judge Ware’s courtroom for adjudication.

Justice Department lawyers immediately filed a second appeal in a further attempt to block the lawsuit.

In their response yesterday, ACLU lawyers argued government lawyers have misinterpreted previous precedents related to state secrets provisions. They argue the government can redact sensitive information that might otherwise compromise state secrets and that information and responses by Jeppesen Dataplan and its lawyers can be kept under seal, vetted and reviewed by the government and the court.

Luke Thomas contributed to this report.