The Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the state-secrets privilege protects information about a secret CIA jail in Poland in a lawsuit by a suspected terrorist detained at Guantánamo Bay (article available here).
Zubaydah is seeking discovery about interrogation techniques and details of his treatment at the black site in Poland from two CIA contractors, a disclosure the U.S. government opposes, calling it a threat to national security. Zubaydah, the first detainee in the CIA program, wants the information to pursue criminal proceedings against Polish officials, according to the cert petition. He cannot testify because the U.S. government will not allow it, Zubaydah said in his opposition to cert.
Zubaida, now 50, was subjected 83 times to waterboarding, a technique that leads victims to believe they are drowning and that has been widely condemned as torture. The Palestinian was captured in Pakistan in March 2002.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the assertion of state-secrets privilege and allowed Zubaydah to pursue his argument for discovery materials.
The case is United States v. Zubaydah.