A leading human rights group in the US says it is going to court to prevent terrorism suspects being sent to countries outside US legal jurisdiction.
In its lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union says it will argue that the CIA broke American and International law when they allegedly abducted one particular detainee.
The detainee was allegedly transported to Afghanistan and held at a secret CIA detention facility called 'the Salt Pit'.
The case will also name corporations accused of owning and operating the aircraft used to transport detainees secretly from country to country.
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has said she will comment on recent reports of alleged CIA prisons abroad before starting a visit to Europe on Monday.
Ms Rice said she will provide an answer to a EU letter expressing concern over reports last month alleging the US intelligence agency was using secret jails - particularly in eastern Europe.
After talks with Ms Rice in Washington on Thursday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, said she gave him 'categoric assurances' that Shannon Airport had not been used for 'untoward' purposes as a transit point for terror suspects.
A report in the New York Times newspaper claimed that some 33 CIA flights have gone through Shannon over the past four years.
The claims first emerged in November, when the Washington Post reported that 'black site' prisons were, or had been, set up in eight countries including Thailand, Afghanistan and 'several democracies' in eastern Europe.
The EU has threatened sanctions against any of its member states found to have been operating the secret prisons, or allowing their territory to be used for the transport of the phantom detainees.
