All Amir Meshal of Tinton Falls, New Jersey wanted to do was study Islam in Somalia, he says, but instead he wound up becoming the first American caught up in the U.S. government’s extraordinary rendition program for suspected terrorists. Meshal traveled to Somalia in 2006, and several months later, fled the country after fighting broke in the ongoing civil war. He was arrested in Kenya in January 2007 by a joint U.S.-Kenya-Ethiopia operation under suspicion he was connected to al Qaeda, then shipped back to Somalia and later relocated to Ethiopia. He wound up being held for four months, during which he was interrogated more than 30 times by U.S. officials, including two FBI agents who threatened him with torture and execution and denied him access to an attorney. On May 27, 2007, he was finally sent back home without being charged with a crime. With the help of the ACLU, Meshal is now suing the two FBI agents, Chris Higgenbotham and Steve Hersem, as well as several others including two known only as “Tim” and “Dennis.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

ACLU Sues FBI for Imprisonment of New Jersey Man in Africa (by Christopher Flavelle, ProPublica)

Amir Meshal v. Higgenbotham et al. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)

New Jersey Man Who Fled Somalia Ends Up in an Ethiopian Jail (by Raymond Bonner, New York Times)