(Adds background, quotes from government and mother)

By Jon Hurdle

SCRANTON, Pa., Aug 30 (Reuters) - The United States is exposing deportees to the risk of torture by accepting the word of foreign governments that prisoners won't be tortured if sent home, lawyers for an Egyptian detainee argued on Thursday.

The U.S. government says detainees such as Sameh Khouzam -- a murder suspect who says he was tortured for his religious beliefs -- can be sent back to Egypt without the risk of further torture because it has received "diplomatic assurances" from Egyptian authorities this will not happen.

Khouzam's backers including the American Civil Liberties Union say Egypt has a record of torturing opponents and that diplomatic assurances are no guarantee.

The case is the first U.S. court test of whether the government can legally use such assurances to deport suspects to countries that have a record of torturing opponents.

Khouzam's lawyers say the courts have a legitimate role to play in deciding such cases while the government argues they are purely a matter for the executive branch.

It follows ongoing criticism that the Bush administration has not forcefully opposed torture, whether through enhanced interrogation techniques at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or through rendition, when prisoners are transferred to countries believed to torture people.

Civil rights organizations argue in the Khouzam case the U.S. government is violating its obligations under the Convention Against Torture, an international treaty initiated by the United States under former President Bill Clinton.

In 2004, a federal appeals court granted Khouzam protection from deportation under the treaty after finding he would likely be tortured if returned to Egypt. The government is now trying to circumvent that decision by citing diplomatic assurances, his lawyers say.

"The government has provided no evidence that these assurances are reliable," Amrit Singh, a lawyer for the ACLU, told U.S. District Judge Thomas Vanaskie.

Khouzam, 38, a Coptic Christian, fled to the United States in 1998 after being tortured by the Egyptian authorities in an attempt to force him to convert to Islam, human rights advocates say.

Khouzam's mother Georgette Shehata said after the hearing that her son is one of many Coptic Christians to be persecuted by the authorities because of their religion. "Many of them are tortured, many of them are dead," she said.

Khouzam, in custody in Pennsylvania, has been detained for most of his time in the United States because of Egyptian murder charges, which the ACLU questions. He has been convicted in absentia, Singh told the court.

Vanaskie, who in June issued an emergency stay of Khouzam's removal, said he was "struggling" with the idea that "the fellow fled to avoid prosecution," and said that "may change the calculus here." He said he was looking to make a "quick" decision, particularly since Khouzam has been in custody for most of his eight years in the United States.

Douglas Ginsburg, a lawyer for the government, said diplomatic assurances can be trusted because Egypt would not want to jeopardize its good standing with the United States.

"Ultimately, what it comes down to is that we can trust their promises," Ginsburg said.

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