U.S. officials can be sued in Sept 11 abuse case

By Christine Kearney, Reuters

A Pakistani man who says he was abused in detention after the September 11 attacks can name the FBI director and former U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft in his lawsuit against the government, an appeals court ruled on Thursday.

Javaid Iqbal, a Muslim, was held for more than a year at a Brooklyn detention center after the September 11 attacks. He, along with hundreds of Muslims and Arabs sued the U.S. government, claiming they were abused and held for no legitimate reason.

Iqbal says he was subjected to repeated strip searches, beaten, dragged across the floor and that the lights in his cell were kept on 24 hours a day.

(Original Article)