US Supreme Court dodges rendition justice

11.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 11th Oct 2007

Sarah meeting Supreme Court Justice John Roberts in Brussels

The US Supreme Court has disappointingly refused to hear a case against the US government from 'extraordinary rendition' victim Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen.

London Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford, who was vice-chair of the European Parliament probe into CIA extraordinary rendition, torture and secret prisons which reported in February, commented:

"It is highly regrettable that the US judicial system is shirking its oversight responsibilities, allowing a President to blatantly ignore American and international law. What example does it set to the rest of the world that a torture victim cannot get legal redress for appalling ill-treatment at the hands of the US government?"

"Sadly, this dodging of accountability fits a pattern. In the UK the police failed properly to investigate suspect flights, and the Italian government wants a dismissal on state secrecy grounds of charges against CIA operatives for kidnapping a man sent for torture in Egypt."

"Those EU governments which colluded with the US rendition programme are no doubt as worried as Bush that transparent judicial proceedings may bring their wrongdoing into the light. But unless transparency and justice take precedence over state secrets, we are being dragged down to the level of the autocrats and indeed the terrorists which the US and EU claim to deplore."