[Ppnews] Boeing Subsidiary sued for Participation in CIA Kidnapping and Torture Flights

[Political Prisoner News]

ACLU Sues Boeing Subsidiary for Participation in 
CIA Kidnapping and Torture Flights (5/30/2007)
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/29920prs20070530.html


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: <mailto:media at aclu.org>media at aclu.org

Group Also Appeals to United States Supreme Court in Khaled El-Masri Lawsuit

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union 
today filed a federal lawsuit against Jeppesen 
Dataplan, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing Company, 
on behalf of three victims of the United States 
government's unlawful "extraordinary rendition" 
program. The lawsuit charges that Jeppesen 
knowingly provided direct flight services to the 
CIA that enabled the clandestine transportation 
of Binyam Mohamed, Abou Elkassim Britel and Ahmed 
Agiza to secret overseas locations where they 
were subjected to torture and other forms of 
cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

"American corporations should not be profiting 
from a CIA rendition program that is unlawful and 
contrary to core American values," said Anthony 
D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. 
"Corporations that choose to participate in such 
activity can and should be held legally accountable."

The complaint, to be filed today in the U.S. 
District Court for the Northern District of 
California, alleges that Jeppesen, through its 
travel service known as Jeppesen International 
Trip Planning, has been a main provider of flight 
and logistical support services for aircraft used 
by the CIA in the U.S. government's extraordinary 
rendition program. The CIA rendition flights 
transfer terror suspects to countries where the 
U.S. government knows detainees are routinely 
tortured or otherwise abused in contravention of 
universally accepted legal standards. The 
complaint also alleges that Jeppesen has 
facilitated flights to U.S.-run detention 
facilities overseas where the U.S. government 
maintains that the safeguards of its laws do not 
apply. According to the lawsuit, since December 
2001, Jeppesen has provided flight and logistical 
support to at least 15 aircraft that have made a total of 70 rendition flights.

As described in the complaint, Jeppesen's 
participation in the rendition flights has 
included furnishing aircraft crew with flight 
planning services including itinerary, route, 
weather, and fuel planning; responsibility for 
the preparation of pre-departure flight plans 
with air traffic control authorities; procurement 
of over-flight and landing permits from foreign 
governments; facilitation of customs clearance 
and arrangements for ground transportation, 
catering, and hotel accommodation for aircraft 
crew upon landing; and provision of physical security for aircraft and crew.

"Jeppesen's services have been crucial to the 
functioning of the government's extraordinary 
rendition program," said Steven Watt, a staff 
attorney for the ACLU's Human Rights Program. 
"Without the participation of companies like 
Jeppesen, the program could not have gotten off the ground."

Specifically, the complaint alleges that Jeppesen 
provided crucial support services to the CIA for 
the following flights involving the three plaintiffs in the lawsuit:
    * In July 2002, Ethiopian citizen Binyam 
Mohamed, while in CIA custody, was stripped, 
blindfolded, shackled, dressed in a tracksuit, 
strapped to the seat of a plane and flown to 
Morocco where he was secretly detained for 18 
months and interrogated and tortured by Moroccan intelligence services.
    * In January 2004, Mohamed was once again 
blindfolded, stripped, and shackled by CIA agents 
and flown to the secret U.S. detention facility 
known as the "Dark Prison" in Kabul, Afghanistan 
where he was again tortured and eventually 
transferred to another facility and then to the 
U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where he still remains.
    * In May 2002, Italian citizen Abou Elkassim 
Britel was handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped, 
dressed in a diaper, chained, and flown by the 
CIA from Pakistan to Morocco where he was 
tortured by Moroccan intelligence agents and where he is now incarcerated.
    * In December 2001, Egyptian citizen Ahmed 
Agiza was chained, shackled, and drugged by the 
CIA and flown from Sweden to Egypt where he was 
severely abused and tortured and where he still remains imprisoned.

According to published reports, Jeppesen had 
actual knowledge of the consequences of its 
activities. A former Jeppesen employee informed 
The New Yorker magazine that, at an internal 
corporate meeting, a senior Jeppesen official 
stated, "We do all of the extraordinary rendition 
flights - you know, the torture flights. Let's 
face it, some of these flights end up that way." 
(Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, Oct. 30, 2006.)

The lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort 
Statute, which permits aliens to bring claims in 
the United States for violations of the law of 
nations or a United States treaty. The statute 
recognizes international norms accepted among 
civilized nations that are violated by acts such 
as enforced disappearance, torture and other 
inhuman treatment described in the lawsuit.

In furtherance of efforts to hold Jeppesen 
accountable, the ACLU of Northern California and 
other advocacy groups will hold a rally at noon 
today (Pacific Time) outside Jeppesen's offices 
in San Jose to protest the company's 
participation in immoral and illegal renditions. 
For further information, please contact the ACLU of Northern California.

Khaled El-Masri

The ACLU today also petitioned the United States 
Supreme Court to review the case of Khaled 
El-Masri, an innocent German citizen who was also 
a victim of the government's unlawful rendition 
program. Although the story of El-Masri's 
mistaken kidnapping and detention at the hands of 
the CIA is known throughout the world, his 
lawsuit was dismissed by the U.S. District Court 
for the Eastern District of Virginia after the 
government invoked the so-called "state secrets" 
privilege. That decision was upheld by the U.S. 
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in March 2007.

"This administration has invoked the state 
secrets privilege not to protect national 
security, but to protect itself from 
embarrassment and accountability," said ACLU 
attorney Ben Wizner, who argued El-Masri's case 
before the Fourth Circuit last November. "Mr. 
El-Masri's case should be a powerful reminder 
that when our government abandons the rule of 
law, innocent victims suffer the consequences."

More information on the Jeppesen lawsuit, 
including a copy of the complaint, as well as 
information on El-Masri's case and a copy of the 
ACLU's brief to the United States Supreme Court, 
can be found online at <http://www.aclu.org/rendition>www.aclu.org/rendition

In addition to Watt and Wizner, attorneys on the 
Jeppesen lawsuit are national ACLU Legal Director 
Steven Shapiro, Alexa Kolbi-Molinas and Jameel 
Jaffer of the national ACLU, Ann Brick of the 
ACLU of Northern California, Paul Hoffman of 
Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP, 
and Hope Metcalf of the Yale Law School 
Lowenstein Clinic. Clive Stafford-Smith and 
Zachary Katznelson also represent Binyam Mohamed.

Khaled El-Masri is represented by Watt, Wizner, 
Shapiro, Jaffer and Melissa Goodman of the 
national ACLU, Rebecca Glenberg of the ACLU of 
Virginia and Victor Glasberg of Victor M. Glasberg & Associates.




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