APNewsBreak: US Judge Tosses Suit Against Reclusive Cleric
Source: Associated Press
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit alleging that a reclusive Muslim cleric in Pennsylvania orchestrated human rights abuses in his native Turkey, ruling the claims did not belong in U.S. courts.
Turkey's government funded the civil suit against Fethullah Gulen as part of a crackdown on the cleric and his movement by President Recep Erdogan.
It claimed Gulen ordered sympathetic police, prosecutors and judges in Turkey to target members of a rival spiritual movement critical of his teachings.
U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani in Scranton threw out the suit, ruling the plaintiffs "offer only circumstantial and tenuous allegations of a connection between Gulen's domestic conduct and the violations of plaintiffs' rights in Turkey."
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/apnewsbreak-us-judge-tosses-suit-reclusive-cleric-40236151
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, ASSOCIATED PRESS Jun 29, 2016, 9:13 PM ET