A federal appeals court has upheld a decision allowing the CIA to withhold a photo of an alleged al-Qaida terrorist after his interrogation. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made its ruling public on Monday.
The American Civil Liberties Union had appealed a lower court judge’s 2010 decision in favor of the Central Intelligence Agency. The judge refused to force the release of information about destroyed videos of Sept. 11 detainees who were interrogated harshly.
The ACLU wanted the appeals court to reverse part of the decision. That portion barred the release of a photo of a suspected al-Qaida logistician and facilitator, Zayn al Abdeen Mohammed Hussein, who is known as Abu Zubaydah.
The appeals judges say they have seen the photo of the captive, who is now held in a secret lockup called Camp 7 at the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. They say they agree with government that it has the potential to disclose sensitive information about intelligence gathering.
