Torture flight suit against Boeing dismissed

A lawsuit alleging a Boeing Co. unit disguised the delivery of suspected terrorists to secret prisons where they were tortured was dismissed by a U.S. appeals court.

An 11-judge panel of a San Francisco-based appeals court overruled a finding by a three-judge panel that a lower-court judge was wrong to dismiss the case based on government claims that the litigation might reveal state secrets.

Douglas Letter, a Justice Department lawyer, argued in December to the 11-judge panel that classified information confirming or denying the Boeing unit's relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency may be revealed if the case proceeds.

Ben Wizner, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the case, claimed the government inappropriately relied on a classified statement by General Michael Hayden, the former Central Intelligence Agency director, to get the case dismissed prematurely.

The case is Mohamed v. Jeppesen, 08-15693, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco).