A Real Case of Rendition

Some of you may remember me writing about Sabri Ben Kahla, a man who underwent extraordinary rendition by the United States government. Briefly, here is his story. The source for the following information is a copy of the letter that Sabri Ben Kahla wrote to the court at his sentencing. Sabri is a Muslim American, born here in the US. He was studying Islamic Law and Jurisprudence in Saudi Arabia when he was abducted at gun point and imprisoned by a Saudi intelligence agency at the request of the FBI. He was held for a month and then transferred to FBI custody. The FBI continued to hold him under horrible conditions where he was stripped, photographed naked, and humiliated. Judge Leonie Brinkema said, "The uncontested evidence again is the defendant had been held under conditions which would not be acceptable for a United States-based defendant in a criminal case." Sabri was charged with providing material support to the Taliban, but Judge Brinkema found him not guilty. He was then brought in for further meetings with the FBI and eventually had to testify before a Grand Jury. His family's and friends' homes and businesses were raided. Sabri was then charged with perjury to the Grand Jury. In his words, "Essentially saying that I wasn't telling the truth when I said I didn't do what I was acquitted of doing during the last trial." Sabri was convicted of perjury in July 2007 and sentenced to 10 years, an offense that typically yields a sentence of about a year. He is the only citizen ever to have the terrorist enhancement applied to his sentence, even after the judge had given the jury the explicit instruction that this trial was not a terrorist case. The judge ordered Sabri to be placed in a minimum security prison close to home (VA). Instead, he was placed in a maximum security prison in Ohio in solitary confinement.

BBC story on Sabri-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/file_on_4/5145970.stm

Some of you have asked how you can help. Letters of support can be sent to Sabri via his father at-

Sabri Ben Kahla c/o Anthony Ben Kahla
P. O. Box 1794
Falls Church, VA 22041

Contact the VA elected officials and urge them to investigate the civil liberties violations in this case-

Senator James Webb
Russell Senate Office Bldg. C1
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-4024(phone)
202-228-6363(fax)

Senator John W. Warner
225 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-2023(phone)
202-224-6295(fax)

Rep. James Moran
Eighth District
2239 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-4376(phone)
202-225-0017(fax)

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