Investigators Want To Know: How Did Muslim Marine Recruit End Up Dead?

Taylor, MI — The U.S. Marine Corps is expanding its investigation into the death of a 20-year-old Muslim Marine recruit from Taylor who fell 40 feet from a barracks stairwell 11 days after reporting to boot camp at Parris Island in South Carolina.

This week, Marine Corps officials said in a statement that a drill instructor had been improperly assigned to Pvt. Raheel Siddiqui and other recruits because the instructor was already under investigation for allegations of improper behavior.

“Existing orders, policies and procedure to prevent improper assignments were not followed,” according to the statement from the Training and Education Command of the U.S. Marine Corps. “A drill instructor was improperly placed in charge of recruits while he was subject to an ongoing investigation.”

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Siddiqui’s death and his unit, the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, are at the center of three ongoing investigations — the Marine Corps’ internal inquiry as well as probes by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery — of 15 instructors and leaders accused of hazing, physical abuse, failure of supervision and assault.

• SEE ALSO: Dingell Presses for Answers on Muslim Marine’s Death

The investigation is expected to shed light not only on Siddiqui’s death, but also deeper systemic problems at the unit with a notorious reputation for harsh treatment of recruits, who have dubbed it the “Thumping Third Battalion,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper wrote:

“One of the critical questions in the internal probe, according to Marine officials, is how Mr. Siddiqui ended up under the supervision of a senior drill instructor who was already under scrutiny for alleged hazing involving minority recruits. In one instance, the instructor faced allegations of putting another Muslim recruit in a clothes dryer and making racially charged remarks, according to multiple Marine officials.”

The Marines Corps has said the rigors of the training caused Siddiqui to become faint. He sought medical treatment, according to the official version of his death, and then ran from the room and jumped off the external stairwell.

Family Doubts Suicide

His sister, Sidra, told The New York Times her brother, who had a thirst for challenges and never looked for the easy roads in life, “wouldn’t have done that.”

The son of immigrants, he was a class valedictorian and a robotics and engineering whiz at the University of Michigan’s Dearborn campus, where the Marines recruited him. He saw a short-term future as a jet mechanic for the Corps and a longer-term future as an FBI agent.

He was also a devout Muslim “who believed this country represented freedom and opportunity and wanted to defend those ideals,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, whose district includes Taylor, said in a statement.

Dingell raised questions in an April 4 letter to Marine Commandant Gen. Robert B. Neller about whether the recruit was hazed and bullied because of his religion. On Thursday, the congresswoman persisted for answers in another letter to Neller, saying that the Wall Street Journal report of a drill instructor putting a Muslim recruit inside a clothes dryer “is deeply disturbing.”

“How do we ensure that all recruits are treated equally and receive the proper training to be effective at their jobs as soldiers without resorting to tough and discriminatory tactics that could put someone’s life at risk?” Dingell asked.

Read the full letter below.

Letter to Neller 6.30.16 by Beth Dalbey