Lawyers Fear for Marri's Sanity

Marri's brother Jarallah is a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, though lawyers said he has been cleared for release pending discussions with the government of Qatar, where both Marris hold citizenship.

"If the United States believes Mr. al-Marri did something wrong, the real question is why the government hasn't tried him and proven it in a court of law," said Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer who represents Marri. "The government's conduct speaks volumes about the weakness of its case and its position generally."

His lawyers also said Marri has never confessed to wrongdoing -- unlike Zacarias Moussaoui, another prominent terrorism detainee in the United States, whose admissions of guilt contributed to his 2006 conviction in civilian court for trying to harm Americans. He is now serving a life term in Colorado's ultra-spartan Supermax prison.

So far, the legal motions filed by Marri's attorneys appear to have played a role in improving his treatment. After being held incommunicado for more than a year in South Carolina, he was allowed legal representation and his interrogations ceased. Then, after he filed a lawsuit in 2005, he was permitted to move around his isolated cellblock, was given a mattress every day and was allowed to pray the way he wished.

In the meantime, Marri has been kept at a great distance from those in the outside world, meeting only with his lawyers, the International Committee of the Red Cross and brig staff. His fight for improvements in his conditions recently led to a single phone call with family members in Saudi Arabia, part of a Defense Department policy that now allows detainees at Guantanamo Bay to call home. Marri learned shortly before the call that his elderly father had died during his seven years in prison.

Twenty family members squeezed into a room in Riyadh, excitedly and sometimes tearfully passing around a telephone receiver last month, said his brother Mohammed al-Marri. On the other end of the line was a man who had become like a ghost, a faraway voice some said they had to strain to remember.

"It was a very emotional time," said Mohammed al-Marri, who spoke with his brother for the first time since 2001. "I was very glad to hear his voice after all these years, but on the other hand, it's just an unbelievable situation."

He said it has been hard to explain to his brother's children -- ages 7 to 15 -- where their father is and why he has not returned, in large part because he has not been charged with a crime. Ali al-Marri's wife and children left the United States for Saudi Arabia in 2002, after he was arrested.

"If the guy is guilty, prove he is guilty and we will accept that," Mohammed al-Marri said by telephone. "If he is not guilty, then why hold him all these years? . . . At least he should get justice."

Ali al-Marri's attorneys said their client was elated after the call and stopped harping on some of the minor inconveniences of prison life, instead focusing on his reconnection with his family. Andrew Savage, who also represents Marri, spoke with brig staff after the phone call and learned that Marri has been in "great spirits" since.

That result does not surprise experts familiar with long-term incarceration and isolation, who generally say that family contact gives inmates hope and vital interaction with people they know. Stuart Grassian, a psychiatrist who submitted his opinion to the U.S. District Court on Marri's behalf on March 6, said that being able to hear his family's voices inevitably gave Marri "a renewed sense of connection and purpose" and allowed him to focus his attention on "something very attractive and positive."

Still, Marri's lawyers say he suffers from disorientation, discomfort and sometimes pain. "There is clear evidence that his psychological resilience has eroded to a worrisome degree," wrote Grassian, who has not met Marri and relied on the accounts of Marri's lawyers. "He is becoming increasingly withdrawn, at times paranoid, as well as increasingly irritable and impulsive, and increasingly obsessional."

Savage wrote in court papers in March that Marri "has said that he wants to return to Qatar or Saudi Arabia, even if it meant being beaten or tortured, because at least the uncertainty and indefiniteness of his current situation would end. He says he tries to live day to day but cannot block the terrifying thought from his mind that he may spend years, even decades, alone."