ACLU Sues Jeppesen Over Alleged Torture Flights

May 30, 04:04 PM

Current Headlines: By Leslie Griffy, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

May 30--The American Civil Liberties Union today filed suit against a company operating out of San Jose for its alleged part in shipping people overseas for interrogation and possibly torture.

The suit filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California charges that Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. facilitated international flights that took at least three people that the CIA wanted to interrogate. The company is a subsidiary of the Boeing Co.

Company spokesman Mike Pound said he could not comment on the lawsuit nor could he confirm whether or not Jeppesen worked for the CIA.

"We've got thousands of customers. Every one of them has the expectation of privacy," Pound said. The company, he added, works with private pilots, companies with planes and, on occasion, governments.

According to the complaint, Jeppesen helped the CIA get fly-over and landing permits in other countries and provided itineraries and lodging for the flight crews.

The flights took people the CIA wanted to interrogate to prisons in countries that allow torture or to then-secret CIA-run detention facilities where the U.S. government argues that its own laws do not apply.

"American corporations should not be profiting from a CIA rendition program that is unlawful and contrary to core American values," ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said.

According to the lawsuit, the company worked with at least 15 of the CIA planes for a total of 70 flights.

Contact Leslie Griffy at lgriffy@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5945.

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