PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An American Muslim says he was beaten with batons by prison interrogators while held in solitary confinement overseas for more than three months.
Yonas Fikre (YOH'-nahs FEE'-kray) sued the FBI and State Department on Thursday, claiming the torture he experienced in the United Arab Emirates was done at their behest.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon seeks $30 million and several injunctions against the U.S. government concerning its treatment of citizens overseas.
Fikre says the FBI wanted him to become an informant at Portland's largest mosque, Masjid As-Saber (MAHS'-jeed AHS' SAH'-bur), and agents were angered when he refused.
He says interrogators in Abu Dhabi used information Fikre had given to the FBI agents.
Fikre was arrested in June 2011 and released in September of that year.
