Supreme Court overturns decision on detainee abuse photos

Dec 1, 2009, 5:11 GMT

Washington - The US Supreme Court on Monday overturned a lower court's order requiring the Pentagon to release photos depicting abuse of detainees at the hands of US soldiers.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to a federal appeals court in New York instructing it to re-examine the case in light of a newly passed law that allows the Pentagon to keep the photos from the public, The New York Times reported.

The appeals court ruled in 2008 that the Pentagon must release the images, but Congress has since passed a measure exempting the photos from the Freedom of Information Act. The American Civil Liberties Union has been pursuing the case in court attempting to get the photos out.

'We continue to believe that the Defense Department's suppression of these photos is both unlawful and unwise, and that there is a strong public interest in the photos' release,' Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU said in a statement.

President Barack Obama had originally not objected to releasing the photos but changed his position after military officials warned that revealing the images could produce a violent backlash against US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.