U.S. Relies on Tortured Evidence in Habeas Case - that was tossed in 2008 War Crimes Case

[chill_wind]

U.S. Relies on Tortured Evidence in Habeas Case
Government Submits Evidence Tossed in 2008 War Crimes Case
By Daphne Eviatar 6/23/09 1:44 PM

The United States is relying on evidence obtained by torture to prove that it can continue to imprison indefinitely a young man arrested as an adolescent in Afghanistan six and a half years ago, according to documents filed with a federal district court.

Mohammed Jawad may have been as young as 12 years old when he was seized by Afghan police and turned over to U.S. authorities in December 2002, according to a recent letter from the Afghan attorney general, who is requesting his return. Jawad is accused of throwing a hand grenade into a U.S. military vehicle and injuring two servicemen and their translator. But the primary evidence against him — his own confessions — were obtained by torture. Although the U.S. military commission created by President George W. Bush eventually charged him with war crimes for the attack in October 2007 — almost six years after the crime — a judge ruled in October 2008 that because they were tortured, his confessions were unreliable and inadmissible.


( read about his treatment in captivity-- he was at Bagram, and later at Guantanamo)


“They’re relying on everything they relied on in the military commissions, including statements that are the product of torture, including tortured statements they didn’t even appeal that were made to Afghan authorities,” said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project who represents Jawad in his habeas case. The United States did not appeal the ruling that the tortured confession to Afghan authorities was inadmissible, but relies upon it in its statement of facts to the federal court. Hafetz says the Justice Department’s lawyers are also relying on a written confession drafted by an Afghan police officer in Farsi that has Jawad’s thumbprint on it, although Jawad does not speak or read Farsi. (His native language is Pashto, though in any event he is illiterate.)

In January, five human rights groups sent President-elect Barack Obama a letter urging him to stop the prosecutions of child detainees.

The U.S. government is scheduled to appear before Judge Huvelle to defend its continued imprisonment of Jawad at Guantanamo and its reliance on tortured evidence on August 5.

more:
http://washingtonindependent.com/48370/u-s-relies-on-tortured-evidence-in-habeas-case

[chill_wind]

1. Adding-

"A later forensic exam by the US Army laboratory concluded that the thumbprint was not Jawad’s."

[slipslidingaway]

2. thanks for the update... knr nt

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[chill_wind]

4. "A Child At Guantánamo: The Unending Torment of Mohamed Jawad" (Andy Worthington)

For anyone who cares to read more about the blurry circumstances of his arrest, his detainment, torture, and his encounters with U.S. "justice".

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/06/01/a-child-at-guantanamo-the-unending-torment-of-mohamed-jawad/



With all this evidence eviscerating the government’s case against Jawad, you would be forgiven for thinking that, seven months later, he would have been repatriated to Afghanistan, to begin to pull together the pieces of his shattered life. Instead, however, he is still in Guantánamo, with no sign of whether his habeas corpus review will be successful, or if President Obama intends to haul him up before a Military Commission once more.

Worthington, back in January.

[chill_wind]

5. ..

[NNN0LHI]

6. We need to tell the Iranian government to respect human rights

Oh, wait a minute ...

Don

[chill_wind]

7. We are a long way from that kind of moral authority

and it will be a long, long road back to any semblence of it. The longer we refuse to prosecute the war criminals in our own country, the longer we will deserve to be ignored.

[NNN0LHI]

8. I was thinking about this earlier and it isn't just the US who looks like hypocrites

Since the Bush administration went berserk about 8 years ago Europe and everyone else who aided and abetted those criminals look scummy.

Don