WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on
Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by a Syrian man who sought
damages for alleged torture and inhumane treatment he suffered
while at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Judge Richard Leon threw out the lawsuit, saying that U.S.
Military Commissions Act passed by Congress stripped the federal
courts of jurisdiction over any allegations by foreigners of
detention, treatment, or conditions of confinement.
Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al Janko was released from the
prison in 2009 after winning a court challenge to his detention,
despite the U.S. government's contention that he had been part
of the al Qaeda militant group in Afghanistan.
Last year he sued various officials of the Bush and Obama
administrations, accusing them of orchestrating and overseeing
his torture, from being urinated on to lengthy sleep
deprivation, harsh interrogations and severe beatings.
He also tried to commit suicide 17 times, the lawsuit said.
Judge Leon appeared to offer some sympathy for Janko's
position, noting that "war, by its very nature, victimizes many
of those caught in its wake."
But "our legal system was never designed to provide a remedy
in our courts for these inevitable tragedies, especially in a
conflict like this where terrorists cunningly morph into their
surroundings," he wrote.
Leon had ordered his release from the Guantanamo prison in
2009 after determining any relationship he had with al Qaeda or
the Taliban was brief and no longer existed when he was taken
into U.S. custody in 2002.
The Obama administration had urged the lawsuit be dismissed
on various procedural grounds, including that the court lacked
jurisdiction and that the U.S. government is immune from such
claims.
(Reporting By Jeremy Pelofsky)
Follow us on Twitter: @ReutersLegal