Posted on 07/05/2005 10:11:52 AM PDT by wmichgrad
It's not about the money, insists Mohammed Adnan Bhutta.
Never mind that his federal lawsuit asks for $165 trillion - that's $165,000,000,000,000 - from a long list of Genesee County police and court officials, as well as President Bush and former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Bhutta, a Pakistani-born limousine driver, says he was tortured, humiliated and otherwise mistreated by local police and federal agents who confused him with a terrorist in the weeks after Sept. 11, 2001.
"This is nothing to do about money. I'm making a point here. I'm totally innocent. I want to clear my name," said Bhutta, 40, who wrote and filed the lawsuit himself in U.S. District Court.
Bhutta's saga began when he was arrested at a Burger King restaurant on Fenton Road in Burton on Nov. 11, 2001.
The Jamaica, N.Y., resident said he was set up by his estranged wife, who attended Baker College at the time.
Police reports and court records show the woman obtained a personal protection order against Bhutta in October 2001 and complained that he was stalking her. She later had the marriage annulled.
Bhutta was charged with aggravated stalking and eventually pleaded guilty to unlawfully posting a message to his ex-wife over the Internet, the records show.
Bhutta said federal agents confused him with a terrorist on the FBI's most wanted list and wrongfully accused him of helping in the attack on the World Trade Center.
The wanted man, Ibrahim Salih Mohammed Al-Yacoub, was indicted in Virginia in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers military housing complex in Saudi Arabia. Bhutta said his name was Mohammed Yaqub before he legally changed it in 1991.
Bhutta was jailed for 26 days after his arrest at the restaurant, his first arrest in Genesee County, and for 15 days after being arrested a second time in 2002, he said.
During his time in jail, he said, he was interrogated and mistreated by local police, the FBI and jail guards.
His lawsuit claims a Flint Township detective threatened to shoot him with a gun, cut apart the Quran with a knife and stepped on it while interrogating him.
"I was placed in solitary confinement, forced to sleep on the floor without a mattress or blanket," the suit says. "I was given pork to eat three times a day because they knew it was against my religion."
None of the named defendants is commenting about the allegations.
Officials with the FBI and U.S. attorney's office in Flint and Detroit said they were unaware of the suit and declined comment. Flint Township officials, including Peter Goodstein, township attorney and Chief George Sippert, did not respond to interview requests by The Flint Journal.
Genesee County Sheriff Robert J. Pickell declined to comment.
The suit was filed in New York and transferred to the Eastern District of Michigan.
The list of defendants include the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, Central District Judge Richard L. Hughes and various other court and probation officials in Genesee County.
Burger King had been named as a defendant but was dropped from the litigation in April. Since then, there has been no activity in the case, court records show.
Township police became aware of Bhutta in October 2001, when his wife filed the first of several harassment complaints against him, according to reports obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The woman said Bhutta began sexually, physically and mentally abusing her after they were married in August 2001 in New York.
She claimed he repeatedly called her by telephone in violation of the protective order and made various threats to her or her family in Pakistan.
Bhutta's behavior and guilty plea in the criminal case do not mean his civil rights allegations are groundless, said a lawyer who looked into the case.
Haaris Ahmad, the former executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Bhutta seemed shaken after being released from jail and remained consistent with his allegations.
Ahmad said CAIR voiced concerns to jail officials about Bhutta's treatment but didn't find a systemic problem.
"I think he wants to make a point," Ahmad said of Bhutta. "It shows he's been psychologically scarred by this incident, and he just wants people to hear his story and know this happened to him."
HUH??
If it's not about the money then why didn't he sue for one dollar, legal fees and take his case to court? hmmmmmm....
Sounds like his beef is with his ex-wife, not the US gov.
The Jamaica, N.Y., resident said he was set up by his estranged wife, who attended Baker College at the time.
Where is her name in the lawsuit ?
Why do I have trouble believing this guy's story?
Looks like the entire thing is a pack of lies.
I think his point might be that a person's reputation is priceless.
Sounds like Mohammed can't count. Pity.
He and Scotty like Burger King. Was an underaged girl involved in this?
"I was placed in solitary confinement, forced to sleep on the floor without a mattress or blanket," the suit says. "I was given pork to eat three times a day because they knew it was against my religion."
Thank you, Newsweek! Now, we can look forward to this kind of crap from these loons until the end of time.
Sounds like a relative of Dr Evil. I wonder if the moeny comes with laser beams.....
He has to sue for at least $20.01, or else it goes to small claims court. I agree with the spirit of your comment, though. When someone says "it's not about the money", it's all about the money.
Note to Muslims: If you guys keep changing your names every five minutes, it may lead to confusion regarding your identity.
Its all about the lawyers.
I think he should return to Pakistan, where the jail system is so much kinder and gentler.
what is scary is that the liberal surpreme court might just give it to him.
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