NEW YORK, NY June 15, 2007 —Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller are not immune from charges related to the abuse of a Pakistani man living in the city, who was detained after 9/11 according to a federal appeals court. WNYC's Kathryn Herzog reports.

The ruling stems from a civil suit brought by Javaid Iqbal, who claims he was subjected to physical and emotional abuse while detained in a maximum security center in Brooklyn after the attacks. Iqbal was one of several hundred Muslims rounded up by the government. He claims he was held in solitary confinement for more than 150 days without a hearing. He was later cleared of any involvement in terrorism, but charged with fraud and eventually deported.

In his suit against the government, Iqbal and a fellow detainee said Ashcroft, Mueller and federal prison officials implemented a policy of solitary confinement based on religious beliefs and race. Lawyers for the government argued the attacks justified extraordinary measures to assess the threat to the country. But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that did not free the government to mistreat prisoners and engage in ethnic and religious discrimination. For WNYC, I'm Kathryn Herzog.