Brooklyn
Two men caught in a dragnet shortly after 9/11 filed a lawsuit this week saying that they had been abused by federal agents. Pakistani Javaid Iqbal and Ehab Elmaghraby, an Egyptian, were held for months in a Brooklyn jail, where the Justice Department last year uncovered widespread mistreatment of prisoners. Justice officials have been investigating several employees, but declined to comment on the lawsuit. Iqbal and Elmaghraby said they were frequently punched and cursed as “bastard Muslims.” Elmaghraby said an agent once inserted a flashlight into his rectum during a body-cavity search. “I was in life,” he said, “and I went to hell.” Both men were released in 2002 and deported, after pleading guilty to minor crimes unrelated to terrorism.
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