Va. appeals court hears case of ‘enemy combatant’

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Lawyers for a U.S. citizen who was detained for nearly four years as an “enemy combatant” asked a federal appeals court to reinstate a lawsuit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other government officials.

Jose Padilla’s attorneys argued Wednesday that the officials should be held accountable for their part in his illegal detention and torture in the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. He sued the officials in 2007 but a federal court dismissed the suit in February.

The defendants’ lawyers told the three-judge panel that Padilla isn’t entitled to sue because doing so would improperly allow the courts to interfere in national security matters.

Padilla was arrested in 2002 on a terrorism-related charge, which was later dropped. He was convicted in another case and is serving 17 years.