Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Miami Herald
December 9, 2006
Government lawyers and Jose Padilla's legal team battled over his treatment as an 'enemy combatant' before being charged as a Florida terror suspect.
By Jay Weaver
When defense attorneys argued last week that terror suspect Jose Padilla was tortured in military custody, they produced video images of their client wearing blacked-out goggles, noise-blocking headphones and shackles on his hands and feet.
On Friday, prosecutors fired back that Padilla's defense ''failed to inform'' a judge presiding over his Miami terror case that he was being escorted by guards to ''voluntary dental surgery'' at a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C.
''Far from proving any abuse, these photographs highlight the absurdity of Padilla's assertion: namely that the United States was callous enough to mistreat Padilla while conscientious enough to tend to his toothache,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Killinger and other prosecutors wrote in court papers.
Their argument appeared in a footnote in the latest Padilla case filing over whether an indictment that charges him with supporting terrorists abroad should be thrown out because of the U.S. military's alleged mistreatment.
Padilla's defense team has argued that the indictment, which includes two other Muslim defendants, should be dismissed on grounds of ''outrageous government conduct'' because his constitutional rights were violated while he was in military custody. The trio face trial in January.
Prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke for another opportunity to respond to the defense team's claims that he was tortured as an enemy combatant for 3 ½ years before his transfer to Miami earlier this year to face terrorism conspiracy charges.
In particular, prosecutors want to challenge the recently declassified video images, a Padilla affidavit, a psychiatrist's affidavit, a declaration by one of Padilla's lawyers, Andrew Patel, and a medical specialist's essay on solitary confinement.
The government, in another court filing, said Padilla's ''conditions of confinement were humane and designed to ensure his safety and security'' at the Navy brig between 2002 and 2005.
''His basic needs were met in a conscientious manner, including Halal [Muslim acceptable] food, sleep and daily medical assessment and treatment when necessary,'' Killinger wrote.
``Padilla never reported any abusive treatment to the staff or medical personnel.''
But his defense team, which is battling the government over subpoenas for Defense Department officials to testify, paints a different picture.
In court papers, Padilla asserted that he was isolated in a tiny cell around the clock, deprived of sleep on a steel bunk with no mattress, shackled and manacled for hours on end, and threatened with being cut with a knife and having alcohol poured on the wounds.
He also alleged he was given drugs against his will -- believed to be LSD or PCP -- to act as a sort of truth serum during his interrogations.
''Mr. Padilla asserts that he was not treated humanely, but instead was tortured and that the government's conduct was outrageous,'' one of Padilla's attorneys, Orlando do Campo, wrote in a court filing.
December 9, 2006
Government lawyers and Jose Padilla's legal team battled over his treatment as an 'enemy combatant' before being charged as a Florida terror suspect.
By Jay Weaver
When defense attorneys argued last week that terror suspect Jose Padilla was tortured in military custody, they produced video images of their client wearing blacked-out goggles, noise-blocking headphones and shackles on his hands and feet.
On Friday, prosecutors fired back that Padilla's defense ''failed to inform'' a judge presiding over his Miami terror case that he was being escorted by guards to ''voluntary dental surgery'' at a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C.
''Far from proving any abuse, these photographs highlight the absurdity of Padilla's assertion: namely that the United States was callous enough to mistreat Padilla while conscientious enough to tend to his toothache,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Killinger and other prosecutors wrote in court papers.
Their argument appeared in a footnote in the latest Padilla case filing over whether an indictment that charges him with supporting terrorists abroad should be thrown out because of the U.S. military's alleged mistreatment.
Padilla's defense team has argued that the indictment, which includes two other Muslim defendants, should be dismissed on grounds of ''outrageous government conduct'' because his constitutional rights were violated while he was in military custody. The trio face trial in January.
Prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke for another opportunity to respond to the defense team's claims that he was tortured as an enemy combatant for 3 ½ years before his transfer to Miami earlier this year to face terrorism conspiracy charges.
In particular, prosecutors want to challenge the recently declassified video images, a Padilla affidavit, a psychiatrist's affidavit, a declaration by one of Padilla's lawyers, Andrew Patel, and a medical specialist's essay on solitary confinement.
The government, in another court filing, said Padilla's ''conditions of confinement were humane and designed to ensure his safety and security'' at the Navy brig between 2002 and 2005.
''His basic needs were met in a conscientious manner, including Halal [Muslim acceptable] food, sleep and daily medical assessment and treatment when necessary,'' Killinger wrote.
``Padilla never reported any abusive treatment to the staff or medical personnel.''
But his defense team, which is battling the government over subpoenas for Defense Department officials to testify, paints a different picture.
In court papers, Padilla asserted that he was isolated in a tiny cell around the clock, deprived of sleep on a steel bunk with no mattress, shackled and manacled for hours on end, and threatened with being cut with a knife and having alcohol poured on the wounds.
He also alleged he was given drugs against his will -- believed to be LSD or PCP -- to act as a sort of truth serum during his interrogations.
''Mr. Padilla asserts that he was not treated humanely, but instead was tortured and that the government's conduct was outrageous,'' one of Padilla's attorneys, Orlando do Campo, wrote in a court filing.