Charges fall against OR man who claimed torture
Oct 7, 2013, 8:28 PM
SEATTLE (AP) – Federal prosecutors have dropped money laundering charges against a former Oregon man who accused the FBI of having him tortured while overseas.
Earlier this year Yonas Fikre (YOH’-nahs FEE’-kray) filed a lawsuit saying he was held for 106 days in the United Arab Emirates after refusing to cooperate with Portland, Ore.,-based FBI agents in an interview in Sudan. Fikre now resides in Sweden.
Seattlepi.com reports Monday (
http://bit.ly/15RWaPo) that prosecutors previously indicted Firke alongside Seattle resident Abrehaile Haile in a scheme to illegally wire $75,000 to United Arab Emirates and Sudan. Also charged was Fikre’s brother Dawit Woldehawariat, of San Diego, Calif.
Haile obtained deferred prosecution, while Woldehawariat pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor for failing to file taxes.
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Information from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
http://www.seattlepi.com/
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