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Reuters - October 19, 2005
Suspect in Bush plot says Saudis whipped him
By Deborah Charles
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) - A U.S. citizen charged with plotting to kill President George W. Bush said on Wednesday Saudi officials chained him to the floor, blindfolded him and whipped him in order to make him talk.
In his first comments since returning to the United States earlier this year to face a nine-count indictment, Ahmed Abu Ali said he was beaten and whipped shortly after being detained in Medina, Saudi Arabia, in June 2003.
"They chained me to the ground, and I was blindfolded," said Abu Ali, dressed in a green prisoner jumpsuit. "My knees were on the ground ... my legs were shackled. They struck me many times. I had never felt any pain like it in my life."
Abu Ali, 24, was testifying in a hearing to determine whether confessions he signed in Saudi Arabia will be permitted to be used at trial. His lawyers say the confessions and other statements Abu Ali made should be thrown out because they were obtained by coercion, but the U.S. government says there is no proof he has been tortured.
Abu Ali said he was arrested on June 8, 2003, while taking an exam at the Saudi university in Medina where he was studying. He said the Saudi officials took him to a jail where he was handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded.
He said in about five different interrogation sessions on the first day, he refused to testify and asked to contact the U.S. Embassy, a lawyer or his parents. "I thought the fact that I was an American would protect me," Abu Ali said. "They said the embassy is not there to help you, you have to help yourself."
Abu Ali said he was first punched in the last interrogation session on the day he was arrested. "They hit me and they slapped me around," he said. "They pulled my hair, they pulled my beard and they punched me in the stomach." Late the next morning, Abu Ali said he was taken in for another session."
He said when he would not give information they punched him again then grabbed him by the handcuffs and chained him to the floor and began to whip him, yelling "confess" in Arabic. "At one point they tore my shirt off. They tore it off my back," said Abu Ali, whose mother sat in the courtroom crying and wiping tears from her eyes. "And I was being whipped on my bare back."
Abu Ali said he then told the Saudis he would cooperate and the beating stopped.
He was held near Riyadh for 20 months before returning to the United States face trial on charges of plotting with al Qaeda to kill Bush.
Abu Ali has pleaded not guilty to a nine-count indictment charging him with conspiring to kill the president and with providing support and resources to al Qaeda. No date or year for the plot has been specified in the indictment.
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