WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Terrorist suspect Abdul Rahim al Nashiri, accused of planning the bombing of the United States Ship (USS) Cole, is being denied medical attention in Guantanamo after his doctor ‘s security clearance was pulled without explanation, attorney Richard Kammen told Sputnik.
"My clearance has not had any issues," Kammen, an Indianapolis defense lawyer representing Nashiri, said, "[However] Dr. Sandra Crosby, a physician who has seen our client, has been told there’s an issue with her clearance. We’ve not been able to get a clear answer."
Nashiri, 50, is awaiting a death penalty trial.
He remains in poor health since he was subjected to four years of extreme interrogation during four years in Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) "black" sites before being moved to Guantanamo in 2006, Kammen stated.
"Our client’s health is at risk because of the medically insufficient care he has received in Guantanamo," he said.
Nashiri allegedly planned the bombing of the USS Cole in the Aden harbor in Yemen in 2000, when 17 US sailors were killed.
He has suffered physical, psychological and sexual torture during his four years at the black sites, the 2014 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) report chaired by Senator Dianne Feinstein reported.
Kammen said it was not clear who had withheld Dr. Crosby’s previously valid clearance.
"There are so many different bureaucracies that impact things at Guantanamo, it’s difficult to find who is behind this issue," he said.
Nashiri was suffering from a variety of health problems for which he was not receiving sufficient medical attention in Guantanamo, Kammen said.
"The main one is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is not being adequately treated," he said.
The PTSD had been caused by the brutal treatment Nashiri had been subjected to at the CIA black sites, Kammen explained.
"He was subjected to the technique of anal rehydration," the lawyer explained.
A video tape of Nashiri being forcibly interrogated by CIA agents was destroyed because it was too gruesome and violent to be seen by the American public, a PBS television documentary broadcast earlier this year reported.
In July 2015, the Department of Defense was reported to have leased a Magnetic Resonance Imagery (MRI) machine to scan Nashiri’s brain following a court injunction because of concerns about his health.
