American held by Ethiopia, could be designated prisoner of war

March 22, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — A 24-year-old U.S. Muslim has been detained in Ethiopia and could be designated a prisoner of war for allegedly fighting for radical Islamists in neighboring Somalia.

In a case that has sparked a diplomatic spat between the U.S. and Kenya and with potential similarities to those of others detained in the war on terrorism, Amir Mohamed Meshal is in an Ethiopian jail pending a hearing to determine his status, the State Department said Thursday.

U.S. authorities, however, have already determined that Meshal is not a threat, has violated no U.S. law and did not fight for the Somali Islamists, some of whom are accused of having links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

They have also furiously objected to the circumstances behind his presence in Ethiopia, a steadfast U.S. counter-terrorism ally that nonetheless has a checkered human rights history and has been criticized for mistreating prisoners.

The State Department says Meshal was held for nearly a month in an Addis Ababa jail before U.S. diplomats were finally able to see him on Wednesday but was more critical of Kenya for turning him over to the Ethiopians despite explicit requests not to do so.

Efforts to reach Meshal’s family were unsuccessful on Thursday.

But his odyssey appears to have began when he traveled to Somalia last year to help the shattered nation’s then-powerful Islamists build an Islamic state, although his exact role in that process is not clear, according to U.S. officials familiar with his case.

When Ethiopia invaded Somalia in late December with tacit U.S. backing and toppled the Islamists, Meshal was among thousands who fled, many of whom illegally crossed the country’s porous southern border into Kenya in January and were picked up on immigration charges.

At least one other U.S. citizen who fled Somalia around the same time, Daniel Joseph Maldonado, has been accused of al-Qaida affiliation and deported from Kenya to Houston, Texas where he faces terrorism charges.

But U.S. investigators and diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Nairobi who interviewed Meshal in February found credible his claims of non-involvement in extremism, determined he was not a wanted U.S. criminal, according to the State Department and the FBI.

“He told us he thought Sharia law was a good thing and wanted to go to Somalia to help build a model Islamic state,” said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

“We have no indication he was a fighter. Everyone from our side seems to think that he is pretty much as billed.”

The embassy then sought assurances from the Kenyan government that he not be deported to any country other than United States, the State Department said.

That is when the trouble began.

“Mr. Meshal was subsequently deported from Kenya without prior notification to the embassy, despite requests that any Americans held be deported to the U.S.,” deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

“We have formally protested this deportation with the government of Kenya.”

From Kenya, Meshal was sent with other alleged Islamist fighters to Somalia where they were turned over to Ethiopian forces and brought to Addis Ababa in late February.

Despite extensive U.S.-Ethiopian counter-terrorism cooperation and repeated U.S. requests, including a direct appeal to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, American diplomats were unable to visit Meshal in prison until Wednesday, officials said.

Meshal told the consular officer who saw him that he was in good health and had not been mistreated, Casey said.

(AP)