False accusation creates a 9/11 footnote

[deadparrot]

NEW YORK - They were different men going in different directions — one a visiting Egyptian student on scholarship, the other an ex-cop in a dead-end job as a hotel security guard. But an aviation radio left in a high-rise hotel brought Abdallah Higazy and Ronald Ferry together in an unfortunate footnote to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In his zeal to fight terror, Ferry twisted the truth about the radio — capable of contacting commercial pilots from the ground — and triggered an investigation that needlessly landed Higazy in jail for a month.

Five years later, Higazy, 35, is back in Egypt, where he views his case as a parable about the false suspicions endured by innocent young Arab and Muslim men following the attacks.

"Not all the victims of 9/11 were in the twin towers and Pentagon," he said in a recent interview. "There were other victims, too."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060909/ap_on_re_us/sept11_aviation_radio

[maddezmom]

1. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2501976&mesg_id=2501976