What They Don't Tell You: Ahmed Abu Ali

How the US outsourced the torture and imprisonment of an American citizen. (3:11)

Hi, this is Jody Paulson from Moscow, ID with what they don't tell you.

Ahmed Abu Ali is an American. He was born in Texas -- a claim even George W. can't make -- and was the valedictorian of his Virginia high school graduating class. He has an American accent and American friends. I guess because he's got a Moslem name most people don't get alarmed when they hear what happened to him. But in the eyes of the law, this guy is no less American than John Wayne. What happened to him sets a precedent for what can happen to any American.

In June 2003, Ahmed was studying abroad at the International University of Medina. Right in the middle of a college exam the Saudi police stormed in and threw Ahmed in prison, where he was tortured. Saudi officials declined to give an explanation for his detention, but said they were holding him at the request of the US State Department and would have been glad to release him if there was a request from the US. Then in September 2003, three FBI agents interviewed Ahmed. They reportedly threatened to declare him an "enemy combatant" and send him to Guantanamo Bay. Or he could stand trial in Saudi Arabia, where he would have no legal defense. He was then placed in solitary confinement for three months.

Family members alleged in court papers that when they asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg to help get Ahmed back home, he had "smirked" and said, "He's no good for us here, he has no fingernails left." When his parents petitioned the federal court, Justice Department attorneys said US courts didn't have jurisdiction over cases involving US citizens in foreign custody.

Fortunately, district Judge John D. Bates rejected this idea that "when the United States acts against citizens abroad it can do so free of the Bill of Rights." He ordered the Justice Department to produce evidence establishing any role U.S. officials might have played in Ahmed's arrest and detention. Bates warned that this kind of behavior would allow the government to arrest people and deliver them to another country to avoid constitutional scrutiny, or even "to deliver American citizens to foreign governments to obtain information through the use of torture."

After a long, hard fight, Ahmed was finally returned to the United States. He has since been accused of plotting to kill the president, on the weight of the testimony of an unidentified "co-conspirator." However, Ahmed is not being *charged* with conspiring to kill Bush. The conspiracy allegation is merely being included in two criminal counts related to providing material support to terrorists. Ahmed faces up to 80 years in prison.

Personally, I think what should be on trial is the practice of torturing and detaining US citizens overseas to get out from under the constitution.

I'm Jody Paulson, and I just thought you should know.

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