LONDON -- Lawyers for six former Guantanamo detainees on Monday appealed a ruling that the British government can use secret evidence to fight a claim of complicity in the men's abuse.

The former terror suspects, all British citizens or residents, are suing the government and intelligence agencies over their alleged mistreatment in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and elsewhere. They deny any involvement in terrorism and allege that British spy agencies abetted their unlawful imprisonment and extraordinary rendition to locations around the world where they were tortured.

The former detainees - who include Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed - say having access to the British government evidence is vital to open justice.

But in November the High Court ruled that some evidence could be heard in secret and kept from the claimants and their lawyers, if its disclosure was considered a threat to national security or international relations.

The system of secret evidence, known as a "closed material procedure," has been used only in a handful of terrorism cases, and never in civil courts.

Lawyers for the men claim that the extension of its use would be dangerous to the judicial process.

"It has never been allowed in the history of the common law," said Dinah Rose, a lawyer for several of the claimants. "The process is fundamentally incompatible with the very notion of what a civil trial is."

The hearing before three appeals judges is scheduled to last three days.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030801078_pf.html