老澳门开奖结果

老澳门开奖结果 Suit Seeks to Hold U.S. Government Officials Accountable For Torture of American Citizen Jose Padilla

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NEW YORK 鈥� The mother of a U.S. citizen accused of being an 鈥渆nemy combatant鈥� and the 老澳门开奖结果 today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a lawsuit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other officials for their roles in the torture of her son in a South Carolina military prison.

In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court鈥檚 dismissal of the case brought by Estela Lebron on behalf of her son, Jose Padilla.

鈥淚f the appeals court鈥檚 ruling is allowed to stand, government officials will have a blank check to commit any abuse in the name of national security, even the brutal torture of an American citizen in an American prison,鈥� said Ben Wizner, the 老澳门开奖结果 attorney who argued the case before the Fourth Circuit. 鈥淚t is precisely the role of the courts to ensure that allegations of grave misconduct by Executive Branch officials receive fair adjudication. That vital role does not evaporate simply because those officials insist that their actions are too sensitive for judicial review.鈥�

Padilla was taken from a civilian jail in New York in 2002 by military agents, declared an 鈥渆nemy combatant鈥� and secretly transported to the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C. He was imprisoned without charge for nearly four years, subjected to extreme abuse and was unable to communicate with his lawyers or family for two years. The illegal treatment included forcing Padilla into stress positions for hours on end, punching him, depriving him of sleep and threatening him with further torture and death.

鈥淭ell me where in the Constitution it says that torturing Americans is acceptable,鈥� said Lebron. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 even treat an animal the way my son was treated. If they can do this to Jose, they can do it to anyone. I鈥檓 going to continue fighting until justice has been done for my son.鈥�

Attorneys on the case are Wizner, Alexander Abdo, Jameel Jaffer, Hina Shamsi and Steven R. Shapiro, of the 老澳门开奖结果; Jonathan Freiman, Hope Metcalf and Tahlia Townsend of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School; and Michael O鈥機onnell of the law firm Stirling & O鈥機onnell.

Today鈥檚 appeal filing is available at:

More information about the case is available at: