Lawyer wrongly arrested sues government

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Portland lawyer who was mistakenly arrested by the FBI in the Madrid train bombings sued the US government yesterday, claiming his rights were trampled on because of his Muslim faith.

Brandon Mayfield, a 38-year-old convert to Islam, is seeking unspecified damages as well as a ruling that key provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional.

He accused the government of violating his civil liberties by wiretapping his Oregon home and filing misleading affidavits to justify his two-week imprisonment.

"Not even a 'war on terror' allows the federal government to deprive US citizens of their constitutionally protected rights," Mayfield's attorneys said in a statement.

The FBI issued a rare public apology after Mayfield's release, saying human error had led to his fingerprint being incorrectly matched to one found on a bag of detonators near the scene of the Madrid attack, which killed 191 people on March 11.