So much for right-wing paranoia

PITTSBURGH -- A federal jury awarded an Egyptian-born radiologist nearly $2.5 million for invasion of privacy after a property manager searched his apartment and called police on Sept. 11, 2001.

After four days of deliberations, the jury issued the award Thursday to Basem M.F. Hussein, saying the invasion of his privacy was made with "malice of reckless indifference" to his rights.

Sherri Lynn Wilson had entered Hussein's apartment in Coraopolis the day of the attacks to replace furnace filters, according to testimony. She told the FBI she saw Arabic literature, an airplane flight manual, a compact disc jacket that showed an exploding airplane, and chemical residue she believed to be from bomb-making activities.

What she actually saw was a popular flight simulator computer game and its CD jacket, which did not depict an exploding airplane, Hussein's attorney said. The purported Arabic literature was an English version of the Koran; the chemical residue was household dust.

From the WP.