Supreme Court To Hear US Govt. Appeal To Shield Ex-CIA Contractors From Probe - Order

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2021) The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from the US government to protect two former CIA contractors from being questioned by a Guantanamo Bay inmate and terror suspect who alleges they tortured him in a facility in Poland in 2002 and 2003, a legal order said on Monday.

"United States v Zubaydah, Abu Et. Al. The petitions for writs of certiorari are granted," the order stated.

Abu Zubaydah is a Palestinian terror suspect who has been held in the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay for 15 years. The ruling means he can gain access to US government information classified as state secrets by questioning two former CIA contractors.

Abu Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States and was initially detained in CIA detention holding centers abroad. The US government alleges he was linked to and supported al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

Zubaydah wants to question the two former CIA contractors about a secret agency facility in Poland, where he claims to have been tortured in 2002 and 2003. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in 2019 that the contractors could face questioning. But the Biden administration has now appealed against that decision to the Supreme Court.