Portland man: I was tortured in UAE for refusing to become an FBI informant

[kpete]

Portland man: I was tortured in UAE for refusing to become an FBI informant
Yonas Frike, who attends a mosque where at least nine of its members have been barred from flying, says the US no-fly list is being used to intimidate American Muslims into spying on behalf of US authorities


.......


The 36-year-old Eritrean-born American was finally back in Portland at the end of a five-year odyssey that began with a simple business trip but landed him in an Arab prison where he alleges he was tortured at the behest of US anti-terrorism officials because he refused to become an informant at his mosque in Oregon.

Fikre is suing the FBI, two of its agents and other American officials for allegedly putting him on the US’s no-fly list – a roster of suspected terrorists barred from taking commercial flights – to pressure him to collaborate. When that failed, the lawsuit said, the FBI had him arrested, interrogated and tortured for 106 days in the United Arab Emirates.

As shocking as the claims are, they are not the first to emanate from worshippers at Fikre’s mosque in Portland, where at least nine members have been barred from flying by the US authorities.

“The no-fly list gives the FBI an extrajudicial tool to coerce Muslims to become informants,” said Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer who represents other clients on the list. “There’s definitely a cluster of cases like this at the FBI’s Portland office.”


more:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/16/portland-man-tortured-uae-behest-of-fbi

[think]

1. Very depressing to read. How is this happening in America? /nt

[ND-Dem]

2. why is the fbi operating overseas?

[jakeXT]

6. They were even fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan

The Federal Bureau of Investigation formed a little-known alliance with the military's secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, putting agents on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, Adam Goldman and Julie Tate report in The Washington Post.

Agents with the bureau's elite Hostage Rescue Team, embedded with JSOC operators, have participated in hundreds of raids in Iraq and Afghanistan — creating a a marriage of convenience in which agents help troops exploit digital media and other intelligence for follow-on missions, while also gathering evidence in case a terror suspect is brought back to the U.S.

The revelation lends further credence to claims a once-exclusive law enforcement agency has morphed into an agency dedicating most of its resources to counterterrorism. Indeed since 9/11, the task of thwarting terrorist plots has consumed the majority of the FBI's budget — $3.3 billion compared to $2.6 billion for organized crime, according to a report written for Mother Jones by Trevor Aaronson, author of The Terror Factory.

While no agents have been killed in these types of raids, some have been wounded — somewhat of a surprise considering agents were regularly involved in shooting incidents overseas, The Post reported.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-jsoc-relationship-2014-4

[progressoid]

3. USA! USA! USA!

Freedumb ain't free!!11!

[countryjake]

4. K&R!

[Octafish]

7. Secret Government for a Stronger Democracy!

Ignorance is Strength!