Mohamed Meshal opened the door to his Tinton Falls, NJ home late last year and found three FBI agents on the doorstep. "Your son is in custody, in Ethiopia," the agents told Mr. Meshel and no, they're not sure why.
McClatchy Newspapers lays out the troubling case of Amir Meshal, an American citizen who has been held overseas, without charges, for the past 4 months. Interrogated by the FBI while he was held in Kenya, the officials told the New York Times "he's clean." In mid-April, the State Department led Rep. Russ Holt to believe that Amir's release and return was imminent and the Congressman relayed that information to Mr. Meshel's father, Mohamed Meshal. But Amir Meshal still remains in detention.
So, where is Amir Meshal and why hasn't he been returned to the U.S.?
How is it possible that a U.S. citizen, who has not been charged with a crime, who was thoroughly interrogated by the FBI, cannot be accounted for?
The Meshal case raises key questions about executive detention, torture, and rendition, to say nothing of government accountability. This ordeal presents a terrific opportunity for an investigation into a compelling human story, one that is of particular emotional consequence for a New Jersey family perhaps inadvertently caught in a mysterious hole connected with practices and efforts to secure this country against potential terrorists.
A few newspapers have picked up on Meshal's plight, but we need a full accounting of why Britain, Sweden and other countries were able to get their citizens returned, but the United States has not.