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Apr 14 -
As evidence that Defense Department interrogation policy at the military-run prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba resulted in severe mistreatment of detainees, more allegations of abuse surfaced yesterday. Lawyers for six prisoners demanded the medical records of their clients to help demonstrate their case.
The Boston law firm Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr filed the suit in federal district court yesterday on behalf of six detainees who were captured in Bosnia and are still held at the facility in Guantánamo. The lawyers said they filed the suit after receiving no response from numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the medical records of the prisoners.
As part of the lawsuit, the detainees allege severe abuse at the hands of Guantánamo guards, including "severe beatings resulting in facial paralysis for one prisoner, chemical irritant gassing, near suffocation by repeatedly ramming a prisoner's head into a toilet, and religious persecution by forced removal of clothing required for prayer." The lawyers contend that the medical records may prove some of the prisoners’ claims.
The Pentagon refused to comment fully on the allegations, telling the media only that the administration’s policy is that all detainees should be treated humanely.
