''Meshal v. Higgenbotham'' is a U.S. federal

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Amir Mohamed Meshal, a natural born citizen of the United States, charging two agents of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

(FBI), Chris Higgenbotham and Steve Hersem, and two other unknown U.S. government officials for their roles in subverting Meshal's rights under the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

and the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991.

Allegations

In January 2007, while fleeing to Kenya after the fighting broke out in the War in Somalia (2006–2009) in December 2006, Meshal was captured by forces of the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa. In the lawsuit, Meshal alleges he was "interrogated more than thirty times by U.S. officials who failed to adhere to the most elementary requirements of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991" and "U.S. officials repeatedly threatened Mr. Meshal with torture, forced disappearance, and other serious harm".

Court decisions

Meshal filed a legal action for violation of his rights in 2009. In 2014 a lower court dismissed the case. On October 23, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the lower court decision,United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circui
AMIR MESHAL, APPELLANT v. CHRIS HIGGENBOTHAM, FBI SUPERVISING SPECIAL AGENT, IN HIS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, ET AL., APPELLEES
Argued May 1, 2015 Decided October 23, 2015 No. 14-5194 (accessed 3 Nov. 2015) (with a Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge Pillard.). The ruling said that Amir Meshal's allegations of abuse were "quite troubling," but stated that he is unable to pursue claims that agents violated his constitutional rights because the events took place overseas during a terrorism investigation. The court stated: "Matters touching on national security and foreign policy fall within an area of executive action where courts hesitate to intrude absent congressional authorization." In the ''New York Times,'' Patrick G. Eddington concludes "Mr. Meshal has fallen into a legal black hole, where the light of justice is extinguished in the name of national security. The appellate court decision means that American citizens have no means available to hold the government accountable for violating their constitutional rights, simply because the United States conveniently denied those rights in another country of its choosing." In June 2017, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meshal V. Higgenbotham Civil liberties in the United States