US Muslim claims detention and torture by FBI

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Published time: April 18, 2012 20:37
Edited time: April 19, 2012 00:37

Yonas Fikre, center, a Portland, Oregon Muslim American talks to media with his U.S. attorney Thomas Nelson, left, and Swedish lawyer Hans Bredberg, right, in Stockholm, Sweden, April 18, 2012 (Photo from www.seattlepi.com)

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Human rights, Middle East, Politics, Religion, Scandal, Terrorism, USA

A Muslim American claims he was detained in the UAE last year and tortured by FBI agents. He says he was beaten, threatened with death and kept in solitary confinement for over three months before they let him go.

Naturalized US citizen Yonas Fikre, who is currently seeking asylum in Sweden, says he was interrogated in connection with a terror plot in Portland, Oregon

Fikre says he had attended the same mosque in Portland as a man who has been charged in connection with a plot to detonate a bomb in the city in 2010.

The man claims he was arrested last June while in the United Arab Emirates and taken to a prison in Abu Dhabi to be questioned about the activities of the Portland mosque.

According to Fikre, his interrogators became very upset when he presumed they were working for the FBI.

"They got very angry and they said ‘We don't work with the Americans, we are an independent country," he told a news conference on Wednesday. But later one of them acknowledged FBI involvement in the operation, Fikre says.

"He confirmed to me that the FBI were there. Also, when I was getting beaten, they did admit that the FBI knew exactly what was happening and they were working with the FBI," he said.

He also told journalists he was warned to say he was being treated well in custody or "more torture would take place."

The FBI has refused to comment so far. Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI office in Portland, said she could not talk about the specifics of the case.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called upon the US Department of Justice to investigate whether Fikre was tortured at the behest of the FBI, AP reports.

Fikre is the third Muslim man from Portland to publicly say he was detained while traveling abroad and questioned about Portland's Masjid-as-Sabr mosque.

The mosque has a notorious reputation within US secret services. Ten years ago seven Muslims with ties to the mosque were arrested after they tried to enter Afghanistan to fight US forces.

Comments (3)

One soul 20.04.2012 03:22

not saying beating people and torturing them is right (if its true that this even happened) but if Mulsims want to stop getting treated like this, then they should stop with their stinkin Jihad. because people are eventually going to get sick of all the ranting and raving about killing everyone who isnt mulsim, and will eventually fight back.

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DeadEyeC 19.04.2012 15:20

"They got very angry and they said ‘We don't work with the Americans, we are an independent country," he told a news conference on Wednesday. But later one of them acknowledged FBI involvement in the operation, Fikre says.
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Translate d:
We are not lackey's or stooges, we're an independent country, We do what we want...Now answer the question " whats goin on in Portland Oregon ",

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Lena (unregistered) 19.04.2012 10:37

A prominent Muslim figure in Russia has been fatally stabbed in Moscow in what his colleagues say was a racist attack. Friends said that Metin Mekhtiyev, 33, had been targeted by a group of five people, including a woman. Mr Mekhtiyev was of Azerbaijani origin and until recently had been a leader at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Russia. Extreme right groups have carried out a series of racially motivated attacks in Moscow and other major Russian cities in recent years. Police say Mr Mekhtiyev was found close to his central Moscow flat, with stab wounds to his neck and face. He leaves a wife and baby.

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