TOKYO, Japan (CNN) - An American father jailed in Tokyo has been harshly treated, his attorney said Monday, while Japanese authorities said he is getting "special" treatment.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/12/japan.savoie.custody.battle/art.father.wtvf.jpg caption="Christopher Savoie is in jail in Japan after trying to get back his son, Isaac, and daughter, Rebecca."]
Attorney Jeremy Morley, in a statement released Monday, said Christopher Savoie - accused of trying to kidnap his children after his ex-wife took them to Japan - is being held without trial, interrogated without an attorney present and denied needed medical treatment for high blood pressure.
Savoie has also been exposed to sleep deprivation, and denied private meetings with attorneys and phone calls to his wife, according to Morley, who said the way his client has been treated amounts to "torture."
He acknowledged that some of the claims are based on second-hand information from Savoie's wife, Amy, saying she has communicated with people familiar with her husband's case.
Police in Yanagawa, a rural town in southern Japan where Savoie is being held, denied the allegations in Morley's statement, saying Savoie gets regular visits by a physician and medicine as prescribed.