Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former lawyer, has filed a lawsuit claiming he was imprisoned to stop the publication of a "tell-all" book about his experiences with the US president.
Mr Cohen was released from a federal prison in May due to concerns over exposure to coronavirus. He had completed one year of a three-year sentence for his role in hush money payments to two women, as well as for financial crimes and lying to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
But the 53-year-old was returned to prison on July 9, which his attorneys say violated his First Amendment rights.
His attorneys filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Monday night against US Attorney General William Barr, the director of the Bureau of Prisons and the warden at the federal prison in Otisville, New York.
The suit accuses Mr Barr and federal prison officials of trying to stop the publication of Mr Cohen's book.
"He is being held in retaliation for his protected speech, including drafting a book manuscript that is critical of the president and recently making public his intention to publish that book soon, shortly before the upcoming election," the attorneys said.
Mr Cohen's book, which he started writing after his conviction, describes his experiences with Mr Trump, and addresses subject matter of "national concern and intense public interest" due to 2020 being an election year, the attorneys said.
While he was out of prison, Mr Cohen had said on Twitter he planned to publish the book before the November election.
The lawsuit said he had written the book in the prison library and it was tentatively titled "Disloyal: The True Story of Michael Cohen, Former Person Attorney to President Donald J. Trump".
The book sets out Mr Cohen's "firsthand experiences with Mr Trump" and offers "graphic details about the president's behaviour behind closed doors", according to the lawsuit.
But Mr Cohen was returned to prison after refusing to agree to a gag order as a condition for serving his criminal sentence under home confinement, his lawyer said.
The American Civil Liberties Union and law firm Perry Guha LLP have joined the petition for Mr Cohen to be freed from prison.
“The government cannot imprison Michael Cohen for writing a book about President Trump,” Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's speech, privacy and technology project, told the New York Times.
