Officials can be sued in Sept. 11 abuse case

An appeals court ruled on June 14 that a Pakistani man who says he was abused in detention after the Sept 11 attacks can name the FBI director and a former US attorney general in his lawsuit against the government. Javaid Iqbal was held for more than a year at a Brooklyn detention center after the attacks. He, along with hundreds of Muslims and Arabs sued the US 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. The appeals panel disagreed with lawyers for FBI Director Robert Mueller and former Attorney General John Ashcroft who argued their actions were reasonable "in the post-9/11 context" and that Iqbal received proper treatment.