The heartsick mother of Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi — locked away in a Mexican jail on dubious weapons charges — says her son has been cruelly kept in a dark cell that has no windows.
"He hasn't seen sunlight in 90 days,'' Jill Tahmooressi told Mary Walter of "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
One of the liberties that Andrew does have [is to be able to] make a collect phone call once a day — and so I am able to speak to him and that's a blessing.''
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Tahmooressi, who served two tours in Afghanistan, was arrested by Mexican border guards after he drove into Mexico in a truck containing three licensed firearms and ammunition. His family says he entered Mexico by mistake having made a wrong turn.
Mexican authorities have so far ignored pleas for the release of Tahmooressi, who reportedly suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. A petition on the White House website is asking the administration to intervene.
But Jill Tahmooressi said the ongoing silence of the White House has been devastating.
"Obviously, what we had all hoped might happen was some collegiality between Mexico and America, the fine leaders of both Mexico and America,'' she said.
"We had all hoped that there would be some rallying and some discussion and some mutual review of Andrew's innocence from the beginning … [but] that didn't happen.
"So he is languishing in now his second prison in Mexico and our only hope apparently is through the judicial system in Mexico as if he is a criminal, but all he is guilty of doing is making that one wrong turn.''
Just as frustrating was Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Mexico last month. She said Kerry merely referred to her son's plight as an issue.
"[This] should have been dealt with every sense of urgency from the beginning … But instead, he was labeled … as an issue,'' she said.
She said politicians across the country have started to pay attention.
"I just received a phone call from the [former] governor of New Mexico, Governor Richardson. He was just visiting the Baja California governor two days ago, so legislatively there's a lot of activity,'' she said.
"However, that president to president phone call I do not believe has taken place yet.''
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