Freed Gitmo prisoner sues U.S. for unlawful detention

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/0...wful-detention/

1/22/2009

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — Saad Muhammad Iqbal is a free man after serving more than six years at the U.S. military’s detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — without any charge.

Now, Iqbal is suing the U.S. government for unlawful detention.

“I am angry in my heart,” Iqbal said in a recent interview. “It’s easy for the U.S. government to say, ‘There are no charges found and he’s free.’ “But who will be responsible for seven years of my life?”

His attorney in Washington, D.C., is suing the U.S. government, on behalf of Iqbal, through the federal court system.

It is not the first lawsuit brought against the U.S. government by a former Guantanamo detainee. But it comes as President Barack Obama takes office, promising to shut down the detention facility, possibly within a year.

That could lead to an increase in the number of lawsuits brought by former detainees who — like Iqbal — say they were held for no reason. The Pakistani citizen was taken into U.S. custody in January 2002 while visiting family in Indonesia. He was reportedly arrested after talking about making a shoe bomb, something he denies.

“I never (made) that statement,” Iqbal said. “But they have (said) a lot of things, like I went to Afghanistan, but they have no proof.”