Detainee's Sanity Threatened by Isolation, Lawyers Say
Lawyers for designated enemy combatant Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri say his sanity is threatened by years of solitary confinement.
Marri, accused of being a sleeper agent for al-Qaida, has been held in a Navy brig for 6½ years without a trial. His lawyers say the years he has spent in solitary have harmed his ability to communicate with them, the Washington Post reports.
Marri believes noxious fumes are coming into his cell, and he has stuffed an air vent with food to try to prevent it, his lawyers say. He is also obsessed with the noise coming from a fan and fluorescent lights. He sometimes thinks his lawyers are part of a government conspiracy against him.
The conditions of confinement “are irreparably harming his health and safety, endangering what remains of his psychological resilience, and jeopardizing his ability to participate meaningfully in his … defense,” the lawyers argue.
The government responds that Marri has been moved into a form of detention with more privileges, including cable TV and library visits. He also was recently given access to a computer.
