Lawyers for the man accused of plotting the 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen want his brain tested for possible injuries sustained during interrogations.
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was captured by the CIA in 2002. His defense team said that during the four years he spent in a secret prison, harsh interrogation techniques may have damaged his brain and left him psychologically traumatized.
“There is ample reason to believe that what occurred in CIA custody could have caused brain injury,” Richard Kammen, Nashiri’s attorney said at a pretrial hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Reuters reported Thursday.
The suspected Saudi terrorist’s lawyers want an MRI done, as well as a battery of other tests before his February 2015 trial to see if CIA questioning left him with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Army Col. Robert Moscatti countered that if MRI testing came back positive for brain damage, then it would still be impossible to discern when and where it happened, Reuters reported.
The Oct. 12, 2000, USS Cole bombing conducted by al Qaeda killed 17 U.S. soldiers.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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