Human rights lawyers filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of eight men who say they were tortured by US forces in custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, sources familiar with the case said.

The lawsuit charges that officials at the highest levels of the US Government shoulder ultimate responsibility for the physical and psychological injuries sustained by the men while in American custody.

It was the latest development in a scandal over ill-treatment of US war prisoners that has drawn criticism from around the world.

The case will be filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First in US District Court. The two groups scheduled a news conference yesterday to announce details.

The groups did not state who would be named in the lawsuit, but sources familiar with the case said it was Rumsfeld. "The men represented in the lawsuit were incarcerated in US detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they were subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment," the two groups said in a statement.

(China Daily March 2, 2005)