Egyptian man gets FBI payout over 9/11
Published:Friday | September 25, 2009 | 5:45 PM
An Egyptian man has reportedly received a $250,000 payout from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the US because of the way he was treated following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Thirty-eight year-old Abdallah Higazy had claimed that he was criminally charged and imprisoned unjustly for 34 days.
He had been accused of lying to investigators about an aviation radio found in his hotel room in New York.
The aviation radio found at the hotel could be used to communicate with planes and monitor pilot conversations.
Mr Higazy had acknowledged in court that he had served in the Egyptian Air Corps and had expertise in communications.
He said he told conflicting stories about the radio because he had been intimidated by an FBI agent.
Higazy asserted that the agent shouted at him, lied to him and threatened to endanger his family.
He was detained in December 2001 but was freed a month later after another hotel guest, a pilot, told hotel officials the radio belonged to him.