U.S. Sued Over Release of Records on Terror Suspect Detainees

• `Excessive secrecy makes accountability impossible,''

The U.S. Justice Department was sued by a civil rights group seeking the release of court records for people who were detained without being charged after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Justice Department took the ``highly unusual step'' of sealing court records for detainees who file habeas corpus challenges to the legality of their imprisonment, the People for the American Way Foundation said in a statement. The group filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Justice Department had denied a Freedom of Information Act request to see court records relating to ``hundreds of foreign nationals from Middle Eastern and Muslim countries'' detained after the terrorist attacks, according to the lawsuit. The agency said the release of the records would result in an invasion of privacy, the lawsuit stated.  Elliot Mincberg, vice president and legal director for the group, said in the statement, " People shouldn't be able to disappear into detention without a trace.'' [more ]