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Raheel Siddiqui (Facebook photo)
Update, 4:45 p.m. Friday: Marine Gunnery Sgt. Joseph A. Felix Jr. was sentenced Friday to 10 years in military prison for abusing three Muslim recruits during boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., including Raheel Siddiqui of Taylor, who died at the camp.
Original article, Friday morning:
A former Marine drill instructor was found guilty Thursday by a military jury of abusing three Muslim recruits, The Detroit News reports. One victim was Raheel Siddiqui of Taylor, the son of Pakistani immigrants, who fell to his death at the Parris Island boot camp in South Carolina last year.
Siddiqui's death was ruled a suicide, though his parents dispute that finding.
The jury must will determine a sentence for Gunnery Sgt. Joseph A. Felix Jr., a 34-year-old Iraq veteran. He could serve time in military prison, forfeit pay, get a reduction in rank or a dishonorable discharge.
Felix was accused of punching, choking, kicking and verbally abusing the recruits. Witnesses testified during the trial that he repeatedly called Siddiqui a terrorist shortly before his death. He was also accused of stuffing two Muslim recruits into an industrial Speed Queen dryer in July 2015.
During deliberations, the jury on Thursday listened again to testimony from Lance Cpl. Ameer Bourmeche, one of the former recruits forced into a dryer in 2015, reports Melissa Nann Burke of The News.
