The Obama administration continued the Bush policy of supporting the extraordinary rendition program before the Ninth Circuit, Monday. Extraordinary rendition is the extralegal transportation of individuals from one country to another often for the purpose of torture or to avoid the requirements of extradition treaties.

In Mohamed v, Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc five plaintiffs are suing Jeppesen, a subsidiary of Boeing which is commonly known as a CIA tool for transporting them to foreign countries where they could be tortured under Bush’s extraordinary rendition program, despite Condoleezza Rice’s statement that the United States defendants for the purpose of torture. Likewise, Obama’s CIA director designate, Leon Panetta has stated that the United States will not transport anyone to a country unless the country promises not to torture the person.

The five plaintiffs are Binyam Mohamed, Abou Elkassim Britel, Ahmed Agiza, Mohamed Farag Ahmed Bashmilah, and Bisher Al-Rawi. Mohamed was a Ethiopian student who lived in London and was seized in Pakistan. He was renditioned to Afghanistan and Morocco where he was tortured. href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition#Muhammad_Bashmila/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition#Muhammad_Bashmila_case”>Britel was born in Morocco but he became an American citizen. He was also seized in Pakistan and tortured in Morocco. Agiza was an Egytian citizen seeking asylum in Sweden. He was seized, tortured and taken back to Egypt for more torturing. Bashmilah
a Yemini citizen disappeared in 2003 according to Amnesty International. Al-Rawi was a British citizen, seized in Gambia and transported to Afghanistan and Guantanamo where he was tortured.

They sued Jeppesen for its part in transporting them to places where they would be tortured. United States District Judge James Ware of the Northern District of California threw out the suit after the government claimed that in order to defend the suit Jeppesen would have to disclose national security secrets. The plaintiffs appealed to the Ninth Circuit. With the new administration and a hope for increased transparency it was hoped that the Federal government would change the position that the Bush administration took and allow the suit to proceed. However the government’s attorney during oral argument before the Ninth Circuit Monday continued to take the position that the suit should be thrown out since to let it proceed would necessarily require the disclosure of governmental security secrets about the extraordinary rendition program.