Is The CIA Rendition Program Still Active?

A man believed to be Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in a still from a 2002 video. (Reuters)

Bin Laden Son-In-Law Says He Was Victim Of U.S. 'Rendition' -- Reuters

(Reuters) - A former spokesman for al Qaeda says he was the subject of an extrajudicial transfer to U.S. custody via three Middle Eastern countries this year, an allegation that suggests President Barack Obama's administration is still carrying out controversial "rendition" operations.

Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a close associate and son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, was victim of "an absolute rendition ... an extrajudicial rendition," said Stanley Cohen, a New York lawyer who is representing Abu Ghaith.

The Kuwaiti cleric has pleaded not guilty in Federal Court in Manhattan to charges of conspiring to kill Americans.

The use of "rendition" was a counterterrorism tactic begun under President George W. Bush when suspected al Qaeda figures were grabbed by CIA teams around the world and transferred without judicial process to third countries or to secret prisons that the U.S. spy agency maintained overseas.

Read more ....

Update #1: Ex-bin Laden spokesman: U.S. tortured me on plane -- USA Today/AP
Update #2: Bin Laden son-in-law accuses U.S. of torture, collusion with Iran -- Al Arabiya/AFP

My Comment: I am deeply skeptical that the rendition program is still operating for the simple reason that it would be next to impossible to keep it secret for this long. Someone would have talked and/or leak such an operation a long time ago. But what is believable is Bin Laden's son-in-law being angry that he has been captured .... a prospect that I suspect he never thought would happen to him.