The New York Sun (echoed on Talking Points Memo Muckraker) is reporting that "American Al Qaeda" suspect Jose Padilla claims to have been given LSD by the military.
Lawyers for Padilla, who was born in Brooklyn and converted to Islam while in prison for gang-related crimes, made the claims of torture in a motion filed last week with a federal court in Florida.
"He was threatened with being cut with a knife and having alcohol poured on the wounds. He was also threatened with imminent execution," the chief federal defender in Miami, Michael Caruso, wrote. "Additionally, Padilla was given drugs against his will, believed to be some form of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or phencyclidine (PCP), to act as a sort of truth serum during his interrogations."
...A spokesman for the Navy referred questions about Padilla's treatment to the Justice Department. Prosecutors handling the case did not respond to calls seeking comment for this article.
Muckraker adds:
I've called all three members of Padilla's legal team multiple times in an attempt to get more details, but have gotten nowhere. Can this be real?
Which is, I suppose, the question now on the table. |
