Ex-Judges Back Man Who Says U.S. Sent Him To Be Tortured

A group of retired federal judges is backing a lawsuit by a Canadian citizen who claims America sent him to Syria to be tortured.

The former judges, who come from the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and D.C. circuit courts of appeals, filed a brief urging the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in New York, to allow the lawsuit to go forward.

The lawsuit is being brought by Maher Arar, who says he is an innocent victim of "extraordinary rendition," America's practice of outsourcing interrogation of terror suspects to foreign countries.

American authorities detained Mr. Arar in New York in 2002 on suspicion of links to Al Qaeda, according to his lawsuit. Against his will, Mr. Arar claims he was flown to Syria, where he says he was tortured for nearly a year before being released. Mr. Arar's subsequent lawsuit against Bush administration officials was dismissed earlier this year by a federal judge in Brooklyn. The judge, David Trager, ruled that the suit could have a negative effect on America's national security.

In their brief, the retired judges say Judge Trager ruled incorrectly and that the 2nd Circuit should reverse his decision. Of Judge Trager's decision, the retired judges say in the brief: "We respectfully submit that this was an abdication of the judiciary's constitutional responsibilities to protect against the blatant constitutional violations by the Executive alleged here."

The retired judges who signed the brief include: Chief Judge John Gibbons of the 3rd Circuit, who also argued a 2004 Guantanamo detainee case before the U.S. Supreme Court; Judge Shirley Hufstedler of the 9th Circuit, secretary of education under President Carter, and Chief Judge Patricia Wald of the D.C. Circuit, who was a judge on the Hague War Crimes Tribunal.

The retired judges say judges should not be so quick to throw out lawsuits involving allegations of torture.

"Torture is absolutely forbidden," the judges write. "There is no warrant for ‘balancing' the fundamental right to be free from torture against national security or foreign affairs concerns."

Earlier this year, an official Canadian inquiry into Mr. Arar's case cleared him of links to terrorism.

The other judges who signed the brief include Judge Nathaniel Jones of the 6th Circuit, Judge Timothy Lewis of the 3rd Circuit, Judge H. Lee Sarokin of the 3rd Circuit, and Judge William Sessions of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

The government has not yet filed its response papers to the 2nd Circuit.