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IPFS News Link • Boston Marathon Bombing

Saudi man investigated after Boston Marathon speaks out

• Washington Post

Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi’s interview, which is worth hearing in full, sheds more light on the messy investigative aftermath of the attacks, which saw several men — many of African and Middle Eastern descent — wrongly accused in the media and on the Internet.

Alharbi, a Saudi Arabian student who won a full scholarship to study English in Boston, was injured in the blast and questioned immediately on his arrival in the hospital. He told TIM that more than 20 FBI agents and Boston police officers surrounded him, demanding his name, address and Facebook password even as nurses tried to stop his bleeding.

He says he wasn’t permitted any phone calls and wasn’t asked if he had a lawyer for more than 24 hours; his father, who lives in Saudi Arabia, found out about his son’s injuries on Twitter.

Police eventually cleared Alharbi of any wrongdoing. But investigators took his wallet, and Alharbi relied on the Saudi embassy for food and a hotel. 

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