Judge rejects releasing photos of bin Laden body

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a watchdog group's request that pictures be released of Osama bin Laden's corpse. 

District Judge James Boasberg sided with the Obama administration and the intelligence community in denying Judicial Watch's request that photos and videos of bin Laden's body be released.

"A picture may be worth a thousand words," Boasberg wrote in his decision, according to Reuters. "Yet, in this case, verbal descriptions of the death and burial of Osama Bin Laden will have to suffice, for this court will not order the release of anything more."

According to Reuters, the Defense Department reported it does not have custody of any photos of the body and the CIA refused to comply with the request, citing security concerns. The judge refused to override the judgement of the intelligence agency.

The al Queda leader was killed in Pakistan as the result of a Navy SEAL raid on May 1.

President Obama decided last May not to release the photos of the slain leader's body to the public in a decision fraught with controversy even, reportedly, within the administration.

“That’s not who we are,” Obama said in an interview with “60 Minutes.” “We don’t trot out trophies.”

Several members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and prominent Republicans including Sarah Palin advocated the administration release the photos, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) sided with the president on the issue, calling it "a responsible decision."

Judicial Watch almost immediately filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain photos of the al Qaeda leader’s dead body. 

“It is important to trigger this FOIA process because it would put this in a regular order. The way this has been handled in regard to the document response is bumbling. This at least would force them to put pen to paper,” Tom Fitton, the group's president, told The Hill last May.

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