''Meshal v. Higgenbotham'' is a

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

federal

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

filed by the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

on behalf of Amir Mohamed Meshal, a

natural born citizen of the United States Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...

, charging two agents of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(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 It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

and the

Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA; ) is a US statute that allows for the filing of civil suits in the United States against individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, committed torture and/or extrajudic ...

Allegations

In January 2007, while fleeing to Kenya after the fighting broke out in the

War in Somalia (2006–2009) The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, also known as the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia or the Ethiopian intervention in the Somali Civil War, was an armed conflict that lasted from late 2006 to early 2009. It began when military forces from Ethi ...

in December 2006, Meshal was captured by forces of the

Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is a joint task force of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). The U.S. War on terror begun after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. In October 2002, headquarters elements of th ...

. 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 with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

, 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