FEDERAL CASE Parents sue over son held by Saudis

The man is suspected of being part of a terrorism training ring in Virginia.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The parents of an American jailed without charges in Saudi Arabia are suing the United States in what lawyers say is the first lawsuit filed on behalf of a U.S. citizen detained in a third country at the U.S. government's request.
The parents contend his being held in Saudi Arabia is a deliberate attempt to keep him out of U.S. courts and in the hands of jailers who could abuse or torture him for information.
The family's lawyers cite last month's Supreme Court rulings that alleged enemy combatants held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can take their claims to U.S. courts.
Ahmed Abu Ali was arrested 13 months ago in Saudi Arabia as part of an American anti-terrorism investigation.
What's in suit
The U.S. government ordered the arrest and has refused to say when or if Abu Ali would be charged or released, the family alleged in a suit to be filed today in federal court in Washington.
The family wants an American judge to order Abu Ali returned to the United States, where he might face charges as part of an alleged terrorism training ring in Virginia.
The suit names Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell and others and cites the Supreme Court rulings last month that outlined legal rights for citizens and noncitizens detained in the war on terrorism.
Human-rights lawyers who drafted the suit on behalf of Abu Ali's family claimed that his case is similar to others in which the United States has sent suspected terrorists to foreign countries that use harsher interrogation techniques than U.S. law allows.