By Jonathan Hafetz, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law

A federal district court in Washington will hear arguments this afternoon in the ACLU's lawsuit on behalf of American citizen Amir Meshal. In 2007, FBI agents orchestrated Mr. Meshal's secret detention for four months in East Africa. During that time, Mr. Meshal was threatened with torture and rendered between three different countries – Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia – in an attempt to coerce a false confession from him. He was never charged with a crime.