A Northern Virginia teenager detained in Kuwait is suing the U.S. government, saying officials violated his rights by apparently placing him on the no-fly list without reason.
Gulet Mohamed, 19, claims in the suit that he was detained in Kuwait in December at the request of U.S. authorities. The lawsuit says Mohamed, an Alexandria resident, was beaten, tortured and interrogated by Kuwaiti authorities about his prior travels in Yemen and Somalia.
Mohamed was taken into custody in Kuwait when he tried to renew his visa at the Kuwait International Airport on Dec. 20. He claims in the suit that he was tortured for more than week, then taken to a deportation facility. When Mohamed tried to board a flight to the United States on Sunday, the lawsuit says, he was not allowed onto the plane.
Lawyers with the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed the complaint Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria. The lawsuit names Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Terrorist Screening Center Director Timothy Healy as defendants.
Attorneys for Mohamed are also requesting an order that would force the government to allow him to return to the United States. Another hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
In an e-mailed statement, Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said government officials were working to bring Mohamed back to the United States. Boyd said the department had “no comment on the specific allegations contained in the lawsuit.”
The suit says Mohamed has not been accused of any crime or wrongdoing in the United States or Kuwait.
Mohamed was born in Somalia and came to the states when he was 3. The lawsuit says he went abroad in March 2009 to study Arabic and see family living abroad.
He went to Yemen and Somalia, then Kuwait, where he had been living with an uncle since August 2009. He had renewed his visitor’s visa there twice before, the suit says.
The lawsuit says Kuwaiti officials told Mohamed’s family that they are willing to release him, but the U.S. government has placed him on a no-fly list.