Visiting Libyan doctors report harsh treatment by FBI

[Emily]

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020369933_libyandoctorsxml.html

Originally published February 15, 2013 at 9:43 PM | Page modified February 15, 2013 at 10:39 PM

Visiting Libyan doctor reports harsh treatment by FBI

Three Libyan doctors, visiting Boston and Seattle to begin a health-care partnership with U.S. physicians, say they were detained and interrogated as soon as they arrived in the U.S.

By Alexa Vaughn
Seattle Times staff reporter

When Dr. Laila Taher
Bugaighis landed in the United States with two other Libyan physicians Sunday, all she was expecting was the beginning of an exciting partnership with hospitals in Seattle and Boston ? one that would help elevate sorely lacking health care in her own country.

The partnership was the kind of outreach former U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens had been trying to create when he was killed in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11. His sister, Seattle Children?s Dr. Anne Stevens, has since collaborated with Dr. Thomas Burke of Boston?s Massachusetts General Hospital to make that dream happen.

So it shocked everyone when, as soon as they landed in Boston, Bugaighis and the other physicians were immediately detained by people she believed to be Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and then interrogated for hours, she said.
[snip]
Bugaighis said agents were harsh with her and called her names so offensive she wanted to leave the country immediately.

?I told them I wanted to get on the next plane for Istanbul,? Bugaighis said. ?I thought perhaps, it is too soon to come to the United States.?...

Too soon - or too late?