American on the No Fly List Interrogated and Tortured for Months

Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
April 23, 2012

 

 

 

The US government’s “no fly” list is extensive and top secret. Although millions of Americans are on the list, the actual list is not open to the general public. The US Privacy Act protects even US citizens from knowing who is on the list and who is not.

Yonas Fikre was detained and tortured overseas by order of the US government. He cannot return the US because he now on the “no fly” list. His only recourse is to file for political asylum in Sweden; which he has.

Fikre’s story fits the now classic pattern of racial profiling against Muslim Americans. Usually, once in custody, these people have to submit to interrogations without rights to due process or having their travel rights returned to them once they are in the system.

In 2011, Fikre spent more than 3 months in a “detention center” in Dubai, India.

He says his experiences were horrific.
• Sleeping on a concrete floor
• Constant interrogation
• Beatings
• Held in stress positions for exorbitant amounts of time
• Left to pass out or collapse

Thomas Nelson, lawyer for Fikre, says that the FBI was responsible for this Oregon-native’s capture and torture. The lawyer also supposes that Fikre’s status on the “no fly” list is a direct determination to keep this man out of the US. Fikre maintains he is not terrorist threat to America.

Nelson said, “There is a practice and policy by the FBI to gratuitously deny the rights of American Muslims, particularly naturalized immigrant Muslims when they want to get more information. In the case of Mr. Fikre . . . we believe and will allege that they also engaged in torture by proxy. This is shocking. This is a dark day for America.”

Nelson filed a complaint on behalf of Fikre to the Department of Justice. The DOJ responded that the placement of Fikre on the “no fly” list has no cause.

In the DOJ’s letter, they stated that “based on our review, we have concluded that no action by this Office is warranted . . . We are referring your correspondence to the FBI’s inspection division for whatever action it deems appropriate.”

Brian Michael Jenkins, of the Rand Corporation, says “its principal purpose is to keep certain people who have been identified off of U.S. airlines. … It doesn’t involve arresting people . . . It is not a fugitive list.”

Beth Anne Steele, FBI field office for Portland, Oregon, said “I can tell you that the FBI trains its agents very specifically and very thoroughly about what is acceptable under U.S. law . . . To do anything counter to that training is counterproductive — we risk legal liability and potentially losing a criminal case in court.”

The “no fly” list is a tool that the US government uses against certain citizens. For reasons unknown, even four year old children with no ties to any terrorist organization are on it.

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