Opinion ID: 781722
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Murad's Allegations of Torture by Philippine Officials

Text: 234 Murad recounts in great detail the torture he allegedly suffered in the Philippines, Murad Br. at 4-14, 21-27, 34-37, 71-73, 76, but he offered the District Court insufficient evidence to establish that any mistreatment occurred. Murad claims that the worst of his torture occurred during the three days after he was first taken into custody by Philippine authorities on December 26, 1994. In particular, he alleges that he was beaten, raped, burnt on his hands and feet by cigarettes, and subjected to simulated drowning. Yousef, 925 F.Supp. at 1067. Yet the District Court found that some of the contorted positions Murad claimed to have been forced into were physically impossible, and it discerned no scars on Murad's body or other evidence that Murad had been burned. Id. at 1069. Furthermore, the American physician who examined Murad on the plane did not find any evidence of torture or mistreatment, nor did Murad tell that doctor that Philippine authorities had abused him. Id. at 1068. In addition, during the period that Murad claims he was in Philippine custody, a hotel register shows the signature of one of Murad's aliases. Id. at 1070. Murad testified that this signature was in his handwriting, id. at 1070-71, and witnesses testified that Murad was living at the bomb-making apartment in Manila during the time he alleges he was in police custody. 235 Aside from Murad's testimony and Hegarty's testimony, Murad also introduced a transcript of a tape-recording of his interrogation by Philippine authorities on January 7, 1995 in order to support his theory. See id. at 1069. During that interrogation, Murad revealed details about the timers and explosives that the airline bombers would use. In response to questioning, Murad denied that the bombing plot involved any terrorist activity aimed inside the Philippines. Murad's interrogators were not persuaded by this assertion and accused him of lying. Soon after Murad insisted that he was being truthful, the tape recorder was turned off. When the tape recorder was turned back on, Murad sounded highly agitated and stated that there was a plan to bomb the Pope's motorcade during his trip to Manila. 236 The fact that Murad changed a portion of his statement while the tape recorder was turned off does not establish the vicious torture Murad alleges. Moreover, based on the numerous internal inconsistencies in Murad's story, the overwhelming evidence rebutting Murad's allegations, and the absence of corroborating physical evidence of mistreatment, the District Court did not err, much less clearly err, in finding that Murad's testimony regarding his torture and forced cooperation with the Philippine authorities is not credible. Id. 237