ACLU seeks OAS inquiry into how terror plotter treated

NEW YORK — A civil liberties group asked the Organization of American States’ human rights commission Tuesday to investigate the U.S. government for what it alleges are violations of the rights of convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla.

The American Civil Liberties Union alleges the United Staes violated the rights of Padilla, now 42, when it labeled him an “enemy combatant” a decade ago and subjected him to interrogation that amounted to torture, including sleep and sensory deprivation in solitary confinement.

The watchdog legal group said it had filed a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which serves as the human-rights investigation arm of the Washington-based OAS.

The United States has argued that it is not bound by the commission and views its findings as “only recommendations that the United States can ignore or it can follow,” according to Steven Watt, the ACLU lawyer who filed the petition

Roger Noriega, a former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States who is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, said the United States is not a party to the treaty establishing the commission’s authority “and there can be no argument that we are legally bound by the court’s decisions.”

The petition asks the OAS to recommend that the United States publicly acknowledge the violations and apologize for its unlawful conduct. The OAS promotes cooperation among the 35 independent countries of the Americas.

State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson referred queries to the Justice Department. Officials at Justice did not respond to requests for comment Monday and Tuesday.

Among the allegations in the ACLU’s petition are the following:

Padilla’s interrogation included “painful stress positions, sleep deprivation and sensory deprivation.”

Padilla was denied contact with his lawyers or family during interrogation.

He was not allowed to practice his religion, Islam.

His mental state deteriorated so badly that he often refused to meet with lawyers or his family, fearing that would result in his return to military custody.

Padilla was convicted in U.S. federal court in 2007 of supporting terrorism in Kosovo, Bosnia and Chechnya, and is serving a 17-year sentence.