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Saudi Arabia Is Said to Have Tortured an American Citizen
New York Times ^ | 2 March 2019 | David D. Kirkpatrick

Posted on 03/02/2019 1:07:07 PM PST by tkocur

A dual citizen of Saudi Arabia and the United States had been imprisoned in the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh for about a week when he heard a knock on his door.

Guards dragged Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained physician, to another room, according to a friend who took down the prisoner’s detailed account of his treatment. Dr. Fitaihi told the friend he was slapped, blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and bound to a chair. He was shocked with electricity in what appears to have been a single session of torture that lasted about an hour.

His tormentors whipped his back so severely that he could not sleep on it for days, his friend said, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals. The doctor had described the physical abuse, in general terms, to his relatives as well, a person close to them said.

Detained in November 2017 in what was billed as a crackdown on corruption, Dr. Fitaihi, 54, remains imprisoned without any public charges or trial. About 200 prominent Saudis were detained with him, and he is one of dozens who remain in prison.

Friends and families of others detained have also described episodes of torture. At least 17 detainees were hospitalized soon after the crackdown for injuries sustained while in custody, according to a doctor at the hospital and an American official monitoring the crackdown.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: Michigan; US: Minnesota; US: New York; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: berniesanders; braking; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; erdogan; hearsay; ilhanomar; jamalkhashoggi; kurdistan; mediawingofthednc; michigan; minnesota; muslimbrotherhood; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; ocasiocortez; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; putinsbuttboys; rashidatlaib; receptayyiperdogan; saudiarabia; sidebarabuse; smearmachine; timemanoftheyear; turkey; vermont; whataretheirfrnicks
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1 posted on 03/02/2019 1:07:07 PM PST by tkocur
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To: tkocur


The Slimes is said to have printed a truthful article once, but I don't believe it.


2 posted on 03/02/2019 1:09:38 PM PST by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: tkocur

If true...who cares?


3 posted on 03/02/2019 1:12:15 PM PST by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket)
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To: tkocur

Probably a “Jihadi-American” like the new ones in congress.


4 posted on 03/02/2019 1:16:15 PM PST by UnwashedPeasant
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To: tkocur
I read the headline on the FR page but the source was hidden.

I guessed the source would be the Washington Post. I guessed wrong because of Jamal Khashoggi.

Then I read the first sentence:

A dual citizen of Saudi Arabia and the United States

Now a citizen of the US has become a DUAL citizen of Saudi Arabia and the US.

The NYT certainly had enough room to add DUAL citizenship to their headline but didn't.

I wonder why.

It reminds of when the Washington Post implied Jamal Khashoggi was a US citizen when in fact he was just living in the US.

5 posted on 03/02/2019 1:16:43 PM PST by yesthatjallen
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To: rrrod

I care a lot. The Saudis are allies of the US. Allies do not do this to each other’s citizens. I hope the US Department of State is on the case.


6 posted on 03/02/2019 1:17:26 PM PST by Rapscallion (Walls work anytime night or day, any weather)
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To: tkocur

What’s he doing in Saudi ?

If he broke their laws whilst On their country they are entitled to deal with him how they see fit. Likewise, we should be allowed to shoot anyone here from foreign countries who breaks our laws


7 posted on 03/02/2019 1:18:19 PM PST by WashingtonFire (The charisma of Reagan + the vision of Jefferson + the patriotism of Washington = Trump)
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To: WashingtonFire

Does Saudi Arabia want “reciprocity” as Kisinger practiced it?


8 posted on 03/02/2019 1:20:08 PM PST by Rapscallion (Walls work anytime night or day, any weather)
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To: WashingtonFire

I don’t think dual citizenship is a good idea. Dual citizens enjoy more Privileges’s in their country of birth and then expect us to bail them out when things go bad.


9 posted on 03/02/2019 1:22:38 PM PST by Oldexpat (Jobs Not Mobs)
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To: tkocur

Well, I have a bit of a problem with the whole dual citizen thing but if it was a third country torturing the guy I’d be up in arms. However if its the other country he swore allegiance to, well, that’s between him and them. Because it’s hard to yell at them “he’s our citizen! How dare you!” when they can say “no, he’s OUR citizen, buzz off”. Just like I’d tell Saudi Arabia to jump in a lake if he were sitting on death row for murder in our country and they tried to make a stink about it.


10 posted on 03/02/2019 1:22:46 PM PST by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)
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To: tkocur

The Saudi Barbarians could crucify & behead Americans (like they do others) & it wouldn’t matter because they buy our weapons and are friends with Israel. That’s all that matters.


11 posted on 03/02/2019 1:24:10 PM PST by Trumpisourlastchance
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To: tkocur

The Middle East really became a problem for us after the Iranian Revolution when the Shah was deposed and Khomeini came to power. This affected the other countries and the problems just escalated.

And the big reason the US allowed the Shah to be deposed was because Jimmy Carter was all tsk-tsk-tsk about the Shah’s human right record. It seems he was torturing crazy jihadist Muslims. How awful.

Torture in the Middle East? My official position is: I don’t care.


12 posted on 03/02/2019 1:25:59 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: Rapscallion
First and best lesson.

Dual citizenship is a bad idea and needs to end.
Second, Islamic hellholes aren't good allies.

The Doctor in question was a Saudi citizen and whatever political intrigue he is part should stay strictly among Saudis.

I hope.the state department is busy doing a job which should have been done during the Nixon administration. Outlining to Congress why dual citizenship needs to end.

13 posted on 03/02/2019 1:26:02 PM PST by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: tkocur
We cannot expect foreign countries to behave like our republic requires.

By Jennifer Mueller. The Saudi Arabian government oversees and protects Muslims making the pilgrimage to Mecca. Saudi Arabia has a monarchial system of government with the king as head of state, leader of the national government and commander-in-chief of the nation's military. Islamic law is the Saudi Arabia's primary legal authority.

14 posted on 03/02/2019 1:28:59 PM PST by Capt. Tom
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To: tkocur

I didn’t get to read the article before the paywall went up, but perchance was the Islamic Society of Boston mentioned in the article? Older news articles with that guys name in it seem to focus on his family’s links to terrorist financing, not so much on his Harvard medical pedigree.


15 posted on 03/02/2019 1:30:28 PM PST by jz638
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To: Rapscallion
Let them investigate.

However, this sounds like the NYT is trying to create another Jamal Khashoggi narrative; and that Trump is somehow responsible.

Why hide the fact he had DUAL citizenship in the headline?

16 posted on 03/02/2019 1:32:41 PM PST by yesthatjallen
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To: tkocur

If we didn’t hand out amnesty, green-cards and passports to bums from all over the world like they come from inside a box of Cracker-Jacks, then we wouldn’t be thrust into these needless situations.

For crying out loud the **DHS** under Obama was headed up by one of these.

RIDICULOUS, it’s so out of hand.

Show me another country where their homeland security is handled by a FOREIGNER.


17 posted on 03/02/2019 1:33:52 PM PST by gaijin
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To: tkocur
Ironically, multiple citizenship is illegal in "the Kingdom" ...
18 posted on 03/02/2019 1:33:53 PM PST by SecondAmendment (This just proves my latest theory ... LIBERALS RUIN EVERYTHING!)
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To: MrEdd; Rapscallion
I hope.the state department is busy doing a job which should have been done during the Nixon administration. Outlining to Congress why dual citizenship needs to end.

What Congress should be working on is a list of things that the USSC can not rule on.

One of which should be citizenship. Then make a law that says citizenship in the United States is exclusive.

19 posted on 03/02/2019 1:34:59 PM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit)
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To: Oldexpat

“I don’t think dual citizenship is a good idea. Dual citizens enjoy more Privileges’s in their country of birth and then expect us to bail them out when things go bad.”

Yeh, pisses me off. Americans who enter countries such as Iran, N. Korea, Saudi Arabia, etc, then do something stupid and expect American government to send a carrier group, 101st Airborne, etc, to rescue their lame asses. I say let twist in the wind...


20 posted on 03/02/2019 1:39:20 PM PST by snoringbear (,W,E.oGovernment is the Pimp,)
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