Demjanjuk evidence withheld by US

CINCINNATI - A federal appeals court said yesterday the United States government defrauded the court and withheld evidence that could have helped John Demjanjuk fight extradition to Israel to face charges that he was the Nazi death camp guard 'Ivan the Terrible', AP reports.

The Court of Appeals unanimously voted to throw out its own order and a lower court's order authorising Mr Demjanjuk's extradition in 1986.

The ruling clears the way for Mr Demjanjuk to fight a 1981 order by US District Judge Frank Battisti of Cleveland that stripped him of his US citizenship. Mr Demjanjuk was convicted of being Ivan the Terrible in 1988 and sentenced to death. He was held in an Israeli prison until the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the conviction and death sentence.