home

Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured in Saudi Jail

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Tue Jan 18, 2005 at 08:34:22 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

Where is Ahmed Abu 'Ali, a 23 year old American citizen, and why hasn't he called home since November? Amnesty International alleges the U.S. was complicit in his capture by the Saudis, and that he has been tortured, possibly by F.B.I. agents, while in Saudi custoday:

Amnesty International is calling on US and Saudi Arabian authorities to ensure the safety of a US national held in Saudi Arabia who has allegedly been tortured by US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents.

The man, Ahmed Abu 'Ali, aged 23, a US national, is believed to be held in secret detention at al-Ha’ir prison in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh. He has had no access to lawyers and his telephone calls to relatives in the USA ended abruptly in November.

Amnesty International has issued an Urgent Action appeal calling for Ahmed to be given access to lawyers, regular consular access and for him to be released immediately if he is not properly charged.....Ahmed Abu 'Ali's sister Tasneem Ali said: "We are in despair over his safety. We don’t know why he stopped calling us. The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia is not telling us anything and won’t send a consul to check on him."

Ahmed Abu 'Ali was originally detained in Saudi Arabia in June 2003, having been arrested in Medina while taking an exam at al-Madina University. When initially arrested he was reportedly held in incommunicado detention for two months during which time he was allegedly tortured and ill-treated.

Since then, he has called his family in the US every two weeks but they last heard from him on 20 November 2004. The family has contacted the State Department in the US and the US embassy in Riyadh in order to determine Ahmed Abu 'Ali's fate. However they have reportedly not received any assistance.

The family filed suit in the U.S. A federal judge ruled there was "considerable evidence" the U.S. was involved in his capture.

US federal agents were also allegedly involved in his interrogation and torture after his arrest. During an interrogation, FBI agents allegedly threatened him with either being declared an "enemy combatant" and sent to Guantanamo Bay, or with a trial in Saudi Arabia where he would have no legal assistance, public hearing or appeal to a higher tribunal.

< Schedule of Calif. Death Penalty Protests | Cop Punches Kid on Tape, Wins $2.4 Mil >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured in Saudi Jail | 22 comments (22 topical)
    Re: Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured i (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jan 18, 2005 at 10:27:28 PM EST
    Surreal. Talk Left, did you ever imagine, in your wildest dreams, that you would be posting items involving OUR government torturing OUR citizens? It just keeps getting worse and worse.

    Re: Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured i (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 12:27:25 AM EST
    Logical progression I'd say. Next they'll start doing it in the homeland. Be really easy to disappear people with all the open land you've got.

    Re: Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured i (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 12:32:31 AM EST
    Lavocat: just because Americans couldn't imagine this happening doesn't mean it never did before: it just means that now we have the means to know and to try to do something about it.

    Re: Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured i (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 04:46:20 AM EST
    Disturbing to say the least. Nevertheless, the AI report has a lot of holes in it that need to be filled in before we know for sure what is going on with this guy. Everything is "reported" with no reference to who reported it, and they can hardly claim to know what exactly is happening to this guy when even they admit they don't know where he is. He may not even be in that prison anymore. Let's hope the truth comes out, and if it is as AI claims, that something is done about this crap.

    Re: Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured i (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 07:09:03 AM EST
    This, unfortunately is not shocking in the sense that it's a surprise but in the reality of knowing that it's actually happening now and not conjecture in some worst case scenario. I was hesitant to believe that the AI headline was true, especially as the article initially didn't present irrefutable proof. However, when I came to this paragraph:
    On 16 December 2004, a US District Court Judge, in a lawsuit brought by Ahmed Abu 'Ali's family, stated that there was "considerable evidence" that the US were complicit in his capture. In addition, the US consul in Saudi Arabia did not visit Mr Abu 'Ali for almost a month after his arrest.
    The gravity of the situation became apparent to me. If we have Sooo much proof that this guy is dangerous then why doesn't the U.S. charge him. Have they even been able to say that they've gotten any valuable info. from their new 'interrogation' style? Meanwhile I'm going to give Amnesty's number to a few friends of mine in case I don't come home for dinner one day. "Don't leave home without it!"

    Re: Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured i (none / 0) (#6)
    by wishful on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 07:11:58 AM EST
    justpaul, I think that generally, when the US wants a US citizen to be tortured in a Saudi prison, or anywhere else, they are careful for us NOT to "know for sure what is going on with this guy", wouldn't you say"

    Re: Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured i (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 07:17:22 AM EST
    Wishful,, Absolutely. Now, if you can show for a fact that the U.S. wanted this guy to be tortured in a Saudi prison, please do. Until you can show this is a fact, and not an allegation, is not the country entitled to the same "innocent until proven guilty" as a defendant? AI implies in its release that it is a fact that this stuff has happened, but they offer very little evidence of that. All I'm saying is that I'd like to see some real evidence before I accept that this is what has happened for sure.

    Re: Amnesty Int'l Alleges U.S. National Tortured i (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 07:31:04 AM EST
    Justpaul, you might very well dispute and/or interpret