[lucajona]

I don't know why this was downvoted, it seems like a valid question. I suppose I will get downvoted too, but I think it's worth discussing this now, since it's made the front page even though it probably shouldn't have.

So what evidence is there that the US condoned Fikre's torture? The alleged statement of a torturer? That doesn't seem very reliable. He couldn't prove his story in Sweden, so how will he prove it in the US?

Isn't it possible that the UAE came to find out that Fikre had some involvement with the FBI over the Portland mosque, wanted to know why, and decided on torture on their own? Maybe they suspected that he had been turned into an FBI informant.

It seems a bit far-fetched that the US would be outsourcing the torture of suspected Muslim terrorists to a largely Islamic country, and just waiting for suspects to travel there so that it can happen. And the State Department's statement that they saw Fikre and he seemed ok seems strange if they had anything to hide.

[nindalf]

By the standards you've asked, a great many crimes could never be proven. Anyone tortured or raped would never have any evidence other than their word that they had been assaulted. Should they be ignored then?

It seems far fetched to think that the UAE would take a sudden interest in the security of Portland, Oregon but perhaps that's possible. What IS impossible is that a country that's a client of the US would dare to hold, let alone torture a US citizen for a 106 days without the explicit approval of the US.

You think the guy's story is far fetched because he just happened to be in the UAE. Not so much, really. They keep track of the movements of many people (1.5m according to Citizenfour) so they would have known that he was in the UAE. At that point it would only have required one bright bulb at the FBI to come with the idea "hey, why not we get our buddies in the UAE to have a chat with him?"

[lucajona]

You're right, I think we should believe him when he says that he was tortured. It's the part where he claims that it was at the direction of the FBI that needs proof.

And I agree, I don't think the UAE cares about Portland. They might care that US security services had taken an interest in this individual though. Are you saying that the UAE security services are totally subordinate to the US and just act as puppets when it comes to US citizens? I would have thought they'd have a bit more independence than that, even if they do cooperate at some level.

[nindalf]

If it was a German person making this claim against the FBI, I would be as sceptical as you are. However, this is a US Citizen who was held without charge and tortured. My only claim, and its a reasonable one, is that this sort of thing can only be done with the tacit approval of the State Department or the FBI.

It is possible that they took an interest in him out of the blue, but he had done nothing suspicious in UAE to warrant such brutality. Suppose he had done something suspicious in Dubai, does it seem likely that any client regime would do this to a US Citizen to ask them "who was the bearded man you met with last Thursday?" The story that he was asked about the mosque in Portland is much more plausible.

Sadly, the US exercises enormous influence on small regimes like the one in UAE.

[briandear]

"this is a US Citizen who was ALLEGEDLY held without charge and tortured"

There, fixed that for you.