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ABCAmerican Detained, Tortured in UAE at U.S. Govt's Behest, ACLU Says
Naji Hamdan Says He Was Beaten Until Losing Consciousness in Abu Dhabi Prison
By ANNA SCHECTER
June 8, 2009
An American citizen has been detained and tortured in the United Arab Emirates at the behest of the U.S. government, according to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed in federal court.
The judge has called for a hearing today in Washington, DC, and ACLU lawyers say they hope to hear that their case on behalf of Naji Hamdan, 42, will go forward.
Hamdan, who had moved to Dubai several years ago after living in the U.S. for more than 20 years, becoming an American citizen, and raising a family in California, was arrested in August 2008 by state security forces of the UAE. Several weeks before the arrest, FBI agents interrogated Hamdan at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the lawsuit said.
In a handwritten statement given to the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Hamdan said he was kept in a frigid cell with blinding lights on 24 hours a day, and only left to be interrogated and tortured and to go to the toilet.
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http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7782868&page=1