Davis Wright Lawyer Plans Suit on Behalf of Detainee Who Claims Torture

A partner at Davis Wright Tremaine is planning to file suit on behalf of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who claims he was tortured as part of the Bush administration’s extraordinary rendition program.

The former detainee, Muhammad Saad Iqbal, says he was beaten, subjected to electric shocks, forced to drink liquids spiked with drugs and deprived of sleep, the New York Times reports. He was released from Guantanamo in August and sent to Pakistan, where he received surgery for a severe ear infection.

American officials told the Times that Iqbal was arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia, after bragging that he knew how to make a shoe bomb. U.S. officials concluded from initial questioning that he was a braggart and “wannabe” and should be released, according to one official who spoke to the newspaper.

Iqbal nonetheless spent the next six years in U.S. custody. He says his first jail was in Egypt, where he was shocked and drugged. The second was at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, where he contends he continued to be questioned and was deprived of sleep for six months. He was transferred to Guantanamo in 2003, the story says.

Iqbal is represented by Richard Cys, described on the Davis Wright Tremaine website as partner in charge of the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. He has filed a suit that seeks Iqbal’s medical records in an effort to corroborate abuse, the article says. He also plans to sue for wrongful detention.