CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A former Marine Corps drill instructor was “drunk on power” and targeted three Muslim recruits for abuse, prosecutors said at the opening of his court-martial on charges including cruelty and maltreatment.
Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix punched, choked and kicked recruits at the Marine Corps’ Parris Island, South Carolina, training center, prosecutors said Tuesday, according to multiple news outlets.
Felix also burned one recruit after ordering him into a commercial clothes dryer and turning it on after interrogating him about his Muslim faith, prosecutors told jurors. Felix told another Muslim recruit: “Hey, ISIS, get in the dryer,” prosecutors said.
After a confrontation in March 2016 when Felix slapped his face, 20-year-old Raheel Siddiqui of Taylor, Michigan, fell three stories to his death, investigators said. Siddiqui’s death was declared suicide, but since then Marine Corps officials have said they uncovered widespread hazing of recruits and young drill instructors and identified up to 20 people possibly tied to misconduct.
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