Lawmaker Seeks Rice's Help Over Detainee

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Lawmaker Seeks Rice's Help Over Detainee
By Associated Press

April 2, 2007, 9:38 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- A New Jersey lawmaker is asking Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice to demand the immediate release of a Muslim constituent held in an Ethiopian
prison over suspicions he may have fought with Islamist extremists in neighboring
Somalia.

Democratic Rep. Rush Holt wants Rice to intervene personally with Ethiopian
authorities in the case of Amir Mohamed Meshal, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen who
has been jailed in the Ethiopian capital since late February and may soon be
declared a prisoner of war.

-snip-

A community college dropout, Meshal, of Tinton Falls, N.J., went to Somalia last
year to help build an Islamic state. When Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia in
December with tacit U.S. support to oust the Islamists, he and thousands of
others fled to neighboring Kenya.

He was eventually taken into custody by Kenyan officials, sent back to Somalia
and later Ethiopia -- where he could be considered a prisoner of war for allegedly
fighting for the Islamists. A hearing to determine Meshal's status is set for
mid-April.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-prisoner-ethiopia,0,7545208.story

[kirby]

1. Ethiopia is just following the Gitmo doctrine... Leave them alone...