Rep. Markey said, “This is a landmark decision in the long-running battle against the Bush administration’s attempts to disregard legitimate human rights concerns. After years of the Bush administration violating domestic and international human rights law, finally the courts have stood up to say ‘no, you cannot send a human being to a known torturer.’

“In April I began a months-long effort to stop the rendition of a Guantanamo detainee, Abdul Ra'ouf Omar Mohammed Abu al-Qassim, who had been cleared for release by the U.S. government, to Libya where he would almost certainly be tortured. Thankfully, in that case reason prevailed, and the plans to transfer him to one of the worst human rights abusers in the world have been indefinitely postponed. This landmark court decision in the Mohammed Abdul Rahman case is a direct challenge to the Bush administration’s routine acceptance of inherently unreliable ’we-won’t torture‘ promises from the worst regimes in the world.

“While this decision is a critical step, the permanent solution to this problem will only come about when the Congress passes my legislation to finally outlaw extraordinary renditions.”

In her decision released this week, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler found that sending Mohammed Abdul Rahman back to Tunisia could result in “devastating and irreparable harm”.