Mexico-jailed Marine suffering, mom tells panel

Jill Tahmooressi, mother of Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi of Weston, Fla., who has been held for six months in a Mexican jail, weeps after reading his letters from confinement and as others recount his heroism in Afghanistan, during a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. Sgt. Tahmooressi, who suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome, claims he made an accidental wrong turn March 31 into a border-crossing point in Tijuana when he was arrested because he had guns in his vehicle.
Jill Tahmooressi, mother of Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi of Weston, Fla., who has been held for six months in a Mexican jail, weeps after reading his letters from confinement and as others recount his heroism in Afghanistan, during a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. Sgt. Tahmooressi, who suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome, claims he made an accidental wrong turn March 31 into a border-crossing point in Tijuana when he was arrested because he had guns in his vehicle.

WASHINGTON -- A Marine jailed in Mexico on charges of taking weapons into the country tried to kill himself after receiving threats of rape, torture and execution, his tearful mother told a House panel Wednesday. She said her son was suffering an ordeal worse than his two combat tours in Afghanistan.

Jill Tahmooressi's testified at a hearing designed to pressure Mexico's government to release her son on humanitarian grounds.

She outlined the difficulties her son, Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, encountered with post-traumatic stress before moving to California to seek treatment. He completed his second tour to Afghanistan in 2012 and finished active duty later that year. He is now in the Marine Reserve.

Jill Tahmooressi said that shortly after her son arrived in California, he took a wrong turn at a poorly indicated border area and accidentally entered Mexico. She expressed hope that her son could be released in a matter of weeks.

Andrew Tahmooressi was arrested six months ago at a San Diego-Tijuana checkpoint after Mexican officials said they found a rifle, shotgun, pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his pickup.

The 26-year-old said he was headed to dinner in San Ysidro, Calif., when he mistakenly wound up at the border crossing. He said all three guns were legally owned and were in his truck with all his other possessions as he had just moved from Florida.

Mexican justice officials said possession of weapons restricted for army use is a federal crime.

Jill Tahmooressi read a series of what sounded like text messages or phone calls from her son, which she referred to as "quotes."

"Mom, I got lost. I made a wrong turn. I'm at the Mexican border. You need to know this because I've been surrounded by military," he told her on March 31 at 11:45 p.m. A day later: "Mom, I've been arrested. Please secure me an attorney."

The situation quickly got worse. On April 5, Tahmooressi told his mother, "I'm not going to make it through the night. Whatever you do, do not come down here to investigate. Do not come down here to ask questions. You will be killed as well. I need you to go underground. I need you to cancel your bank accounts."

Nine days later: "Mom, I tried to kill myself because the guards and the inmates were going to rape, torture and execute me for personal information. I needed to protect you."

After another week, he said: "Mom, it's been 25 days. I've been in four-point chain restraint spread-eagle on a cot in the infirmary."

Tahmooressi's mother and lawmakers who've visited him say that in addition to the threats, he received treatment at a prison infirmary for a knife wound to his neck.

Prosecutors said he was placed in the clinic of a Tijuana prison after he acted aggressively, tried to escape twice and physically hurt himself. He was then transferred to a prison in the border city of Tecate, Baja California. They said his rights have been respected and he has been visited dozens of times by his lawyers, relatives, pastor and members of Congress.

Despite bipartisan sympathy for Tahmooressi, the hearing took on a political tone as Republicans and military members, who were called as witnesses, sought to contrast Tahmooressi's ongoing plight with the Obama administration's efforts to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

Afghan militants released Bergdahl in May, after holding him five years, when the administration agreed to transfer five Taliban leaders from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Gulf emirate of Qatar.

Pressed by Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., who has visited Tahmooressi in Mexico and led Wednesday's House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing, Jill Tahmooressi said she has not been contacted at any point by President Barack Obama. To her knowledge, Obama has not raised her son's condition in discussions with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Salmon also pointed the finger at Mexico's government. Many Mexicans illegally cross into the United States, he said, and Mexican authorities seek compassionate treatment for them. "Frankly, compassion goes both ways," he said.

Jill Tahmooressi said her son is "desperate" to return home. She said his PTSD treatment plan has been aborted because Mexico doesn't have the ability to provide combat-related expressive group therapy as the United States does.

Despite the travail, Tahmooressi expressed optimism that her son's case was advancing. At a Sept. 9 hearing in Mexico, eight hours of video surveillance was shown. She said it corroborated her son's account, and that a Mexican lawyer the family has hired believes dismissal or acquittal is possible in the coming weeks.

A Section on 10/02/2014

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