Oregon man says FBI was behind his torture in Abu Dhabi [Video]

An Oregon man is seeking asylum in Sweden, saying he was tortured while in the United Arab Emirates by interrogators cooperating with the FBI as it tried to investigate a Portland mosque.

Yonas Fikre says he was arrested in June and taken to an Abu Dhabi prison,  where he was beaten, threatened and isolated during three months of detention. Fikre told reporters he was asked about the Masjid as-Sabr, spurring him to ask his interrogators whether they worked for the FBI.

The Associated Press quoted Fikre as saying that they first denied working with Americans, but later “when I was getting beaten, they did admit that the FBI knew exactly what was happening and they were working with the FBI."

The Portland mosque, which Fikre had attended, has been linked to suspects in two cases in the last decade:  a 19-year-old who allegedly plotted to set off a bomb in Portland, and a group of seven people indicted for conspiring to wage war against the United States.

Fikre's case, originally reported by Mother Jones magazine, has been spotlighted by a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group, which argues that it reflects a broader threat to the rights of American Muslims.

"This disturbing case fits a pattern of proxy detention in which American Muslims are detained in other nations or prevented from returning home in a manner that is clearly designed to circumvent their constitutional rights," the Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote to the Department of Justice.

A Portland FBI spokeswoman told the Associated Press that she could not discuss specifics of the case, but said agents were thoroughly trained about what was acceptable under U.S. law.

Gulf states schedule special meeting over Iran-UAE island dispute

TEHRAN AND BEIRUT -- Foreign ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states are scheduled to meet in the Saudi capital of Riyadh following a visit by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to a disputed island earlier this week in a move that has sparked a diplomatic spat between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran.

A UAE official said the special meeting, to be held Wednesday, was requested by the UAE after Ahmadinejad went to the island of Abu Musa, according to media reports. The six-nation GCC bloc consists of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar.

Abu Musa is one of three islands that both Iran and the UAE claim. Iran took control of the islands of Abu Musa, Lesser Tunb and Greater Tunb -- all located near important shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz -- back in 1971, as the Gulf emirates gained full independence from Britain and British forces were withdrawn.

GCC chief Abdullatif al-Zayani has denounced Ahmadinejad's visit to Abu Musa. In a statement, he called it a "clear violation of UAE sovereignty" and said it was "an irresponsible provocation and is not in line with the GCC policy of maintaining good neighborly relations with Iran," according to media reports.

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Nahayan blasted Ahmadinejad's Abu Musa visit as a "flagrant violation of the UAE sovereignty over its territories" in a report carried on the official Emirati News Agency (WAM). The UAE Football Assn. has canceled a friendly soccer match with Iran scheduled for April 17, in Dubai.

Iran's deputy foreign minister for Arab and Africa affairs, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, counter that the visit to Abu Musa was an "internal affair" and referred to what he said was the "fact" that Abu Musa and the two other islands "have always belonged to Iran and will remain to do so," according to a report by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Meanwhile, tough rhetoric was traded on government-controlled Iranian and Emirati media outlets.

One report [link in Arabic] carried on Tabnak, an Iranian news website close to moderate conservatives in Iran, accused the UAE and some Western media of waging a "psychological war" against the Islamic Republic.

"It is necessary that our diplomatic institution convey its objection to the UAE government and remind them of Iran's borderlines at least by summoning the country's ambassador," Tabnak wrote.

UAE media outlets, meanwhile, criticized Ahmadinejad's visit, with the Ittihad daily reportedly calling it an "'unacceptable, stark violation'' of the country's sovereignty. Another report, carried on WAM and quoting Emirati analysts, said "Emirati rights to Iran-occupied Abu Mousa near the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, along with Greater and Lesser Tunbs, will be retained, no matter how long this takes or what Tehran does."

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Photo: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves to supporters during a visit to the island of Abu Musa on Wednesday in a government photo. Credit: Islamic Republic of Iran / AFP/Getty Images

Afghan's botched attack on Western officials revealed

REPORTING FROM A U.S. AIRCRAFT -- An attempted attack Wednesday at a southern Afghanistan air base targeted a top Marine commander and his British deputy as they stood near the runway awaiting an airplane carrying Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, a senior Defense official acknowledged Friday.

Maj. Gen Mark Gurganus, the Marine commander in Helmand Province, and Brig. Stuart Skeates were lined up waiting at 11:15 a.m. as Panetta's plane taxied toward them when a stolen Toyota Hi-Lux truck careened onto the runway ramp, scattering the group, the official said.

"The welcoming party took evasive action," the official said.

Pentagon officials and military commanders did not disclose these and other details about the incident at Camp Bastion for two days, apparently to play down the seriousness of the security breach. Panetta's plane was abruptly diverted to another part of the air base after the pilot was told of the unfolding incident.

Had the incident occurred several minutes later, Panetta likely would have been on the tarmac in the path of the oncoming vehicle.

The senior official called that scenario "hypothetical," adding that U.S. military investigators continue to believe it is unlikely the attacker, an Afghan interpreter who worked at Camp Bastion, knew Panetta was on the plane, a gray U.S. Air Force C-17.

Whether the driver knew Panetta was arriving or not, the botched attack appeared to be one of the most serious security incidents involving the Defense secretary in years. It came after several other incidents, including the killing of 16 Afghan civilians allegedly by a U.S. soldier, that have strained U.S.-Afghan ties and raised concerns about security on U.S. installations.

The official provided the additional details Friday on the condition that he not be identified because he was discussing a continuing investigation.

After scattering the welcoming party, the truck came to a halt in a ditch and the driver set himself on fire, apparently when fuel he was carrying in a container ignited. He was apprehended after fleeing the vehicle but later died as a result of his severe burns.

A gas can and a lighter were later found in the vehicle, the official said. Base personnel noticed smoke rising from the area where Panetta's plane was supposed to park, leading to the decision to radio the pilot and divert him to another location, the official said.

No one in the welcoming party was injured. Panetta was told quickly that there was a security breach, but he did not get more details until hours later, the official said.

"He was aware that an incident had occurred, but that is it," the official said.

Gurganus and Skeates greeted Panetta's plane at the alternate location several minutes later. "Welcome to our humble home. How do you like it so far?" Gurganus said, chuckling, in an apparent reference to the incident.

But he did not mention the incident when he briefed reporters a little over an hour later and there was no official acknowledgment of the incident for another nine hours. Asked whether security in Helmand Province had been affected by the killing of 16 Afghans a few days earlier, Gurganus said there had been no protests or security problems.

"We've not so much as even had a two-man protest at this point in time," Gurganus said. "You can't get a whole lot safer than right here when you're surrounded by everyone else on the base."

The attacker, whose name has not been released, had stolen the truck, a British military vehicle, a half hour before Panetta's arrival at Camp Leatherneck, a U.S. Marine base adjoining Camp Bastion. He stole the vehicle from a British soldier.

In the aftermath of the botched attack, U.S. military investigators detained three other Afghans who worked as interpreters at Camp Bastion for questioning, including the attacker's father and brother, the official said.

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Photo: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta greets military personnel Friday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, before boarding his plane to return to Washington. The UAE was Panetta's final stop on a tour that included Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Credit: Scott Olson / Associated Press

Six Persian Gulf nations plan to pull peace monitors from Syria

REPORTING FROM DAMASCUS, SYRIA AND BEIRUT -- An Arab League peace plan for Syria appeared to be near collapse Tuesday as six Persian Gulf nations announced their intention to withdraw monitors from Syria and urged the United Nations Security Council to take “all needed measures” to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad to relinquish power.

The gulf monarchies, including regional giant Saudi Arabia, said in a statement that Assad’s government had failed to comply with demands by the 22-member Arab League designed to curb the bloodshed in Syria. The six nations -- which also include Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates -- contribute about one-third of the league's 165 or so monitors in the country.

On Monday, Syria rejected as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty a proposed Arab League political  road map that called on Assad to transfer power to his deputy while a national unity government was formed within two months. Supervised parliamentary and presidential elections would follow, according to the proposal.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem was defiant Tuesday in a news conference in Damascus, assailing the Arab League political plan and denouncing “a plot against Syria” abetted by Arab nations. Syria, a close ally of Iran, has repeatedly alleged that it is the victim of a “conspiracy” backed by Washington and other Western nations in alliance with Arab states.

Moallem was dismissive of any effort to take the question of Syria to the Security Council, saying the Arab League could take the issue “to New York or to the moon, as long as we don’t have to pay [for] their ticket.”

What is the Strait of Hormuz? Can Iran shut off access to oil?

What is the Strait of Hormuz and why are people worried about it?

Iran has been threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The waterway is bordered to the north by Iran, and its closure could cut off access to 20% of oil shipped around the world, sending fuel prices skyrocketing.

Why is Iran threatening to close it?

Iran has been under increasing pressure to stop its nuclear program. The European Union just approved an embargo on Iranian oil Monday to punish the country. Iran insists it is only working on nuclear power and medical research, but Western countries believe it is trying to create a nuclear weapon.

To counter that pressure, Iran has played up its power over the strait. A Revolutionary Guard commander was quoted in a Tehran newspaper saying government leaders would not "allow a drop of oil" to pass through the strait if "our enemies block the export of our oil."

MAP: Strait of Hormuz

Putting it even more boldly, "closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran's armed forces is really easy ... or, as Iranians say, it will be easier than drinking a glass of water," Iran’s top naval commander said on television in December. The country has also been test-firing missiles to show control of the strait.

Why is this waterway vulnerable?

There are a few things that make the strait vulnerable. Its narrowest point is only 34 miles wide. Oil tankers can only use one channel to come in and one channel to come out, each of them roughly two miles wide. Iran has claimed sovereignty over a few islands near the western entrance to the strait.

How would Iran close the strait?

Nobody is worried that Iran would actually put a barrier in front of the Strait of Hormuz. "What most people think of -- and what the Iranians would probably do -- is a combination of things that would not really close the Hormuz Strait but make traversing it very difficult and risky so that people would not go through," said Afshon Ostovar, a senior analyst at the nonprofit research organization CNA.

Iran could do that by using everything from mines to submarines to missiles to small boats that harass ships. Political scientist Caitlin Talmadge outlines one scenario: Iran could set mines in and around the shipping channels, then attack from the air or the coast when people try to clear them.

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But Talmadge points out that the bluster from Iran makes any attempt to plant lots of mines without being detected “essentially impossible.” 

Could Iran really shut down the strait?

Many experts are skeptical that Iran could or would carry out the threat. In a recent article for Foreign Policy Magazine, Ostovar dubbed it a “kamikaze act” because Iran would be devastated by an all-out war with the United States, which could be triggered by closing the strait.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta called it a “red line” that would spur the U.S. to react. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says Iran could block traffic “for a period of time,” but that the United States could reopen it the strait. U.S. officials have said it could be done within a week.

Closing the strait would also hurt Iran. Most Iranian imports and exports come and go by sea, a report from the Institute of Near East and Gulf Military Analysis points out. And Ostovar adds that stopping traffic in the strait would also harm Asian countries that aren't among Iran's enemies, such as India and China.

However, a new report suggests that the Iranian threat could become more real in a decade or two. The U.S. has historically relied upon its allies in the Persian Gulf region to provide bases from which it can deploy troops and get supplies. Iran is now building weapon systems that could to stop that, possibly by threatening governments that offer bases to the U.S. military.

Deploying lots of ground forces and bombers "worked for Operation Desert Storm and for Operation Iraqi Freedom," said Mark Gunzinger, co-author of the report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments."We need to think through -- what if we're not able to do that?"

If closing the strait is an extreme or unlikely step, what else could Iran do?

Iran has a wide range of other ways to use its power in the gulf, from seizing ships to raiding facilities offshore. It can also use small ships to damage or detain tankers or board merchant ships to slow down shipping, harassment that falls short of war. Those minor attacks could reduce traffic or raise insurance costs for shippers. And those attacks don't need to be at or near the Strait of Hormuz.

“Everyone uses ‘close the gulf’ as sort of a slogan,” said Anthony Cordesman, a strategy expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But Iran has demonstrated that it would look at a whole range of different ways to put pressure on the Arab Gulf states and the West.

“It wouldn’t make any sense at all for Iran to concentrate all of its assets around one narrow point and make it extremely easy to attack them,” he added.

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Syria's suspension from Arab League takes effect

REPORTING FROM BEIRUT -- Arab foreign ministers on Wednesday gave Syria three days to cease what one official called its “bloody repression” against its people or face economic sanctions, the latest sign of President Bashar Assad's growing isolation.

The move came after Syria’s humiliating suspension from the Arab League took effect.

The 22-member organization had decided Saturday that it would suspend Syria by Wednesday if it did not implement a league-brokered peace plan. It was an unusually robust action by an alliance often criticized in the past as feckless and irrelevant.

Sheik Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, the foreign minister of Qatar, said at a news conference after a meeting Wednesday in Rabat, Morocco, that Arab states had “reached the end of the line” with the “bloody repression” by Assad's government against dissidents, the news agency Agence France-Presse reported.

Syria, which has called the suspension illegal and a product of U.S. pressure, boycotted the Morocco meetings, its chair sitting empty. Syria is a founding member of the Arab League and considers itself “the beating heart of Arab nationalism.”

The league’s decision to suspend Syria was a blow to its national prestige and prompted mass demonstrations by Assad loyalists, some of whom attacked the diplomatic missions of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and France.

Death in Dubai raises intrigue in Iranian media

REPORTING FROM TEHRAN AND BEIRUT -- The reported death in Dubai of the son of a prominent Iranian politician and former Revolutionary Guard commander has generated suspicion in the Iranian media.

Though local police call it a case of suicide, the Iranian media have raised questions about the death of Ahmed Rezaei, whose body was found Saturday in his hotel suite in the United Arab Emirates, according to news reports.

He is the son of Mohsen Rezaei, who serves as secretary-general of Iran's influential Expediency Council, which advises Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian filmmaker Ebrahim Hatamikia is said to have taken inspiration from the Rezaeis' complex father-son relationship for his 2000 feature, "Dead Wave," which explores the generation gap between veterans of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and their children.