U.S.: Rendition case shouldn't be reopened

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department has maintained its position that a lawsuit over the "renditions" of five terror suspects should not be reinstated, attorneys say.

Critics of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism tactic of extraordinary rendition -- the abduction of suspects without extradition and taking them to foreign countries or CIA prisons for interrogation -- had hoped the practice would be repudiated by the Obama administration during a federal appeals court hearing Monday in San Francisco, Calif.

Instead, Justice Department officials argued that a lawsuit brought by the men -- which was dismissed earlier on national security grounds -- should not be reopened, ABC News reported.

American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony Romero told the broadcaster that prosecutors argued in court Monday to quash the detainees' efforts to sue Jeppesen Dataplan, a Boeing Co. subsidiary accused of assisting in their renditions.

"This is not change," Romero said. "Candidate Obama ran a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama's Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue."

The five plaintiffs in the Jeppesen case also allege that they have been tortured in captivity, the San Francisco Chronicle said.