U.S.Lawyers Deny Padilla Was Tortured

Federal prosecutors are denying an alleged Al Qaeda operative's claims that he was tortured during the more than three years he spent in a Navy brig.

"The government in the strongest terms denies Padilla's allegations of torture, allegations made without support and without citing a shred of record evidence," lawyers pursuing a criminal terrorism case against Padilla wrote in papers filed in federal court in Miami yesterday.

The prosecution did not address directly one of Padilla's most inflammatory claims, namely that a military team forcibly drugged him with "a sort of truth serum," possibly LSD or PCP.

"Padilla's conditions of confinement were humane and designed to ensure his safety and security. His basic needs were met in a conscientious manner, including Halal (Muslim acceptable) food, clothing, sleep, and daily medical assessment and treatment when necessary," prosecutors wrote. "While in the brig, Padilla never reported any abusive treatment to the staff or medical personnel."

Padilla's defense team has asked a judge to throw out the case on the grounds of outrageous government conduct. Defense attorneys asserted that the Brooklyn native was threatened with execution and with being cut and having alcohol poured onto his wounds.

Prosecutors argued that even if Padilla was abused by the military, such abuse would not have an impact on the criminal case because the military and the prosecution teams are distinct.

A jailhouse convert to Islam, Padilla was arrested in Chicago in 2002 on a material witness warrant related to suspicions that he was plotting an attack involving a radioactive bomb. President Bush later designated Padilla as an enemy combatant and ordered him held without charge by the military. One federal appeals court rejected the unusual tactic, but another upheld it. Padilla was indicted last year on charges that prosecutors said were not related to the alleged dirty bomb plot.

In their new filing, prosecutors suggested that Padilla pursue a civil suit for damages if he believes he was tortured by the military.