NEW YORK: An American Muslim man held two weeks without charge after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks will get $385,000 as compensation from the US government, it was announced on Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Abdullah al Kidd was detained in 2003 as a “material witness”, a formulation widely used in the US after the New York attacks to ensure suspects were available to testify in terrorism cases.

Al Kidd was held in solitary confinement for two weeks. He said he suffered daily strip searches and was detained under harsh conditions including 24-hour illumination of his cell, a press release by ACLU said.

He was then placed on probation for 15 months.

Kidd was never charged and was never called to testify at the trial of a student accused of visa fraud for which he was arrested. The student’s trial resulted in a verdict of not guilty.

Under the settlement, the US government offered its “regrets” and agreed to compensate Kidd, an American convert to Islam, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in New York.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2015

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