''Meshal v. Higgenbotham'' is a
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
federal lawsuit filed by the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
on behalf of
Amir Mohamed Meshal, a
natural born citizen of the United States
Status as a natural-born citizen of the United States is one of the eligibility requirements established in the United States Constitution for holding the office of president or vice president. This requirement was intended to protect the nati ...
, 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, ...
(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 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)
The War in Somalia, also known as the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia or the Ethiopian intervention in the Somali Civil War, was an armed conflict involving largely Ethiopian and Somalia, Somali Transitional Federal Parliament, Transitional Fe ...
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
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a State (polity), state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or po ...
, 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 June 2017, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meshal V. Higgenbotham
Civil liberties in the United States