WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th April, 2021) Ahmad Chebli, an Arab-American resident of Michigan, is suing the US government for persecuting him after he refused to serve as an informer for the FBI and was then placed on the "No Fly List" effectively banning him from flying on any domestic flight, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a news release.
"[W]ith the help of the ACLU, I'm bringing a lawsuit to challenge the government's actions and placement of me on the No Fly List," Chebli, who is a US citizen, said in the release on Tuesday. "I want a fair process to clear my name. And I want to make sure no one suffers what my family and I have suffered."
In an August 2018 interview set up by the FBI, Chebli said he repeatedly insisted that he did not want to work for the FBI, but they kept pressuring him. The FBI agents then accused him of being affiliated with a terrorist group, an allegation he said was false and he vehemently denied. Then the agents threatened his family too, he said.
"For my family and me, this entire ordeal has been devastating. I exercised my right not to work as an FBI informant in my community and the government punished me. Because I'm on the No Fly List, I cannot visit family and friends abroad, or travel for work or to fulfill my religious pilgrimage obligation as a Muslim," Chebli said in the release.
Chebli is married with two young children and is a business owner and an engineer in the state of Michigan's automotive industry, according to the release.
