All too often a story emerges – one the government hoped would stay hidden – that makes Americans really question what the officials running the country are up to.
It’s appalling to think that the United States government would intentionally leave a person in jail, but it happens.
And you’ll be shocked to learn why this American citizen was left in a foreign prison for months.
In 2007, Amir Mohamed Meshal of Tinton Falls, New Jersey found himself in the custody of Ethiopia’s National Intelligence and Security Service for over a month.
According to reports the U.S. State Department did little to get him out.
Meshal had been visiting relatives in Egypt and told them he was headed to Dubai to become a tour guide, when in fact his real destination was Somalia.
It appears that Meshal intended to assist the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in establishing an Islamic government in Somalia.
At this time, George W. Bush and his administration viewed the ICU as an affiliate of Al-Qaeda and persuaded the Ethiopian Government to launch a military effort against the ICU.
At some point during the fighting, Meshal ended up being pushed from Somalia into Kenya and it was at this time that the FBI became aware of him and, allegedly, asked the Kenyan authorities to detain him until FBI agents could question him.
According to State Department officials Meshal was questioned on multiple occasions but never released.
It became evident that not only had Meshal been questioned multiple times by the FBI, but they never had counsel present during the questioning, despite Meshal being an American citizen.
No one would answer why Meshal, an American citizen, was being detained in a country he had never visited despite repeated interrogations by FBI agents.
In May of 2007, Meshal was finally released by the Ethiopians and was never charged.
The U.S. State Department arranged his travel back to New Jersey.
Once back on U.S. soil, Meshal began to tell his story and says he was interrogated by FBI agents repeatedly and at one point was even threatened with death if he didn’t confess to being an Al-Qaeda operative.
Meshal filed suit against several FBI agents he claims abused him.
When Meshal’s case came before D.C. Circuit Judge Emmet Sullivan, he granted the FBI’s motion to dismiss with Judge Sullivan stating his hands were tied.
Meshal’s case suffered the same fate in an appeals court in 2015 and the Supreme Court denied hearing it in 2017.
Undoubtedly, this is not the only case of the FBI trying to coerce an answer out of an American citizen by keeping them locked up in a foreign prison.
Reason reports state that “Earlier this month, the State Department released an April 2007 cable that proves U.S. government officials let Meshal languish in an Ethiopian intelligence service prison, despite that government’s offer to free him unconditionally.”
Whether you agree with Meshal’s actions or not, what was done to him was atrocious.
The FBI kept someone locked up in a foreign prison and repeatedly interrogated him all in hopes of getting an admission of involvement with Al-Qaeda.
And, in this case, it looks like the FBI could not have cared less whether the admission was true or false – they just wanted to nab Meshal for what they believed he did, even if he didn’t do it.
Stay tuned to Unmuzzled News for any updates to this ongoing story.
