SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- A U.S. appeals court has tossed a lawsuit challenging a practice known as extraordinary rendition, finding national security trumps the right to a fair trial.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 6-5 Wednesday to dismiss the suit brought by the ACLU on behalf of a group of plaintiffs, including Binyam Mohamed of Ethiopia, who alleged CIA agents took him to Morocco and tortured him during 18 months of detention following his arrest in Pakistan. Mohamed, who is now free, said the CIA subsequently took him to one of its secret prisons in Afghanistan before being held for five years at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, The New York Times reported.

The lawsuit was brought against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., a subsidiary of the Boeing Co.

In a ruling overturning a three-judge panel's finding, the court Wednesday found the government's need to preserve state secrets required the dismissal of the lawsuit.

Judge Raymond C. Fisher called the case "a painful conflict between human rights and national security."

"This case requires us to address the difficult balance the state secrets doctrine strikes between fundamental principles of our liberty, including justice, transparency, accountability and national security," he said in a written finding. "Although as judges we strive to honor all of these principles, there are times when exceptional circumstances create an irreconcilable conflict between them."

The ACLU said it would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. ACLU attorney Ben Wizner said if the ruling stands "the United States will have closed it courts to torture victims while providing complete immunity to their torturers."

Fisher asked the administration and Congress to consider reparations for torture victims if secret government records substantiate allegations of torture and directed the government to pay plaintiffs' legal costs, the Times said.