CLEVELAND (AP) - An Ohio man jailed for more than three years on government suspicions that he has terrorism connections is dropping his fight against deportation to his native Yemen.Ashraf Al-Jailani, 41, of Kent in northeast Ohio, has denied any terrorism links and complained of being held without charges. He had previously expressed concern that he would be tortured in Yemen. ``The very real risk that he will be detained and tortured remains,'' his lawyer, Farhad Sethna, said Friday. ``However, Ashraf believes that being held for the last three years without his family has been torture enough.''
| Look for Andy Sullivan to issue a strong condemnation about this 'torture'. |
The government says it has held him because of possible connections with a suspected terrorist and the brother of one of the Sept. 11 airline hijackers who targeted the World Trade Center. According to the FBI, Al-Jailani's business card as a geochemist, a scientist who studies the composition of the Earth's crust, was discovered with a suspected terrorist in New York. The government also has alleged al-Jailani may be a danger to his American-born wife, Michele Swensen, based on a no-contest plea to a domestic violence charge in 1998. The couple have three children and Swensen has sought his release.