Guantanamo detainee asks court to declare that he was tortured

McClatchy Washington Bureau, December 14, 2007

By Carol Rosenberg | McClatchy Newspapers

In a filing made public Friday, lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee have asked a federal court to examine the way he was questioned while in secret CIA custody for three years and decide whether he was tortured.

If the court takes up the request, it would shift from Congress to the courts the ongoing debate over whether so-called enhanced interrogation techniques authorized by President Bush against al Qaida suspects included illegal torture. Among those techniques was waterboarding, which simulates the sensation of drowning.

Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said Friday the Bush administration had no immediate comment, and would respond in a brief on Thursday.

Lawyers for Majid Khan, 27, filed the motion Dec. 6 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the only civilian court authorized under the Military Commissions Act to hear matters involving detainees at Guantanamo.

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