Brig prisoner in danger of losing sanity, lawyers say

Ali Saleh al-Marri, who has been held in solitary confinement in the Hanahan Navy brig for nearly five years, is in danger of losing his mind, his attorneys said Thursday.

In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston, al-Marri's lawyers and a psychiatrist said their client has become obsessed with food and plumbing and shown new signs of paranoia and other mental health disorders.

"In short, Mr. al-Marri has been confined in virtual isolation at the Brig now for more than 1,700 days, suffering egregious abuses during much of that time," according to the lawyer's motion. "No person can continue to withstand that kind of deprivation of meaningful human contact without permanent damage. Mr. al-Marri is no exception."

The motion asks a federal judge to order the government to allow al-Marri to have regular monitored phone calls with family members and ease other restrictions to reduce his isolation.

"It's unprecedented in American history to have someone in isolation this long," said Andy Savage, his lawyer in Charleston and one of the few people cleared to see al-Marri.

Savage said staff at the Charleston Naval Consolidated Brig "are extremely professional." The problem, he said, is the Bush administration's determination to keep al-Marri in solitary confinement.

Federal agents arrested al-Marri in Peoria, Ill., three months after the Sept. 11 attacks and indicted him on charges of credit card fraud and conspiracy. Federal agents also linked al-Marri to high-level al-Qaida leaders.

In 2003, shortly before his case was to go to trial, prosecutors dropped the charges. President Bush designated al-Marri an enemy combatant, and the military whisked him to the brig, where he's been held alone in an entire wing.

Al-Marri has since become the focus of a constitutional showdown over civil liberties and the government's fight against Islamic radicalism. Last year, the U.S. Fourth Circuit of Appeals said the Bush administration's treatment of al-Marri undermines "all of the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution." The administration is appealing the decision, which legal experts expect to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Defense officials have long defended al-Marri's treatment.

On Thursday, The New York Times reported the existence of videotapes of some of al-Marri's interrogations, including one showing interrogators putting duct tape over al-Marri's mouth. "It was the first time we heard about the videotapes," Savage said.

Two government officials told The New York Times that the tape showed al-Marri being manhandled but not in a way they felt was torture.

In Thursday's court filing in Charleston, a psychiatrist hired by al-Marri's lawyers said al-Marri has developed an intense preoccupation with his food and feared brig staff weren't preparing his food properly. He reportedly switched to a diet of Meals Ready to Eat for months. Brig staff became so concerned that they agreed to give him a tour of the kitchen.

"Yesterday, he didn't want to talk about anything but the drain in his sink," Savage said.