Democracynow.org: FBI Threatened Innocent Prisoner’s Family With Torture

Newly-disclosed court documents reveal an innocent Egyptian national falsely confessed to a crime after FBI agents threatened to torture his family. Abdallah Higazy was jailed for a month as a suspected accomplice to the 9/11 attacks. FBI agents wanted him to admit to having a special pilot’s radio near the World Trade Center on 9/11. An interrogator told him his family would face “torture” and “hell” if he didn’t confess. Higazy later said: “I knew I couldn’t prove my innocence, and I knew my family was in danger…. If I say this device is mine, I’m screwed and my family is going to be safe. If I say this device is not mine, I’m screwed and my family’s in danger.” The details were included in an Appeals Court ruling reinstating Higazy’s civil case against the FBI over his mistreatment. But within minutes of that ruling, the court withdrew its opinion and removed Higazy’s account of his ordeal. Higazy’s interrogator, Michael Templeton, has not contested that the confession was coerced.