U.S. Ordered Torture of Man Held in Detention in UAE, Lawsuit Alleges
In 2011
Yonas Fikre is suing the State Department and the FBI over a 2011 incident that sounds an awful lot like one of the "black sites" made infamous during the Bush Administration.
An American Muslim who says he was beaten with batons by prison interrogators while held in solitary confinement overseas for more than three months has sued the FBI and State Department, claiming the torture was done at their behest.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Oregon seeks $30 million and several injunctions against the U.S. government concerning its treatment of citizens overseas.
Yonas Fikre said he was held for 106 days in the United Arab Emirates after refusing to cooperate with Portland, Ore.,-based FBI agents in an interview in Sudan. The State Department has confirmed previously that Fikre was held in Abu Dhabi "on unspecified charges," but said he was visited by State Department officials and showed no signs of mistreatment.
Fikre was also put on a no-fly list so after being released in the UAE he could not re-enter the US. He went to Sweden instead.
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