Lawyers for the alleged al-Qaida mastermind of the deadly bombing of the USS Cole have filed a case against Poland with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
The lawyers claim that Saudi Arabian Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, 46, was held and tortured in a secret CIA so-called "black site" prison in an intelligence base north of Warsaw from December 2002 to June 2003.
The suit also alleges that Poland violated the European Convention of Human Rights by helping transfer al-Nashiri to U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he is currently being held.
In April, U.S. prosecutors re-filed terrorism charges against al-Nashiri. The move came after U.S. President Barack Obama approved resuming military trials for Guantanamo detainees after a two-year freeze. Al-Nashiri's lawyers say he could face torture and a possible death penalty.
Polish prosecutors have been investigating claims that al-Nashiri and other al-Qaida suspects were held in Poland by the CIA, but in October the U.S. government refused to assist Poland in the investigation.
Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed when the American warship was bombed in a suicide attack from sea in Yemen in 2000.