Case against Mohammed Jawad collapses
November 21st, 2008
In a major development, it looks as if the war crimes trial against Mohammed Jawad has collapsed. Last month the Military Commissions judge threw out Jawad’s confession to Afghan authorities, ruling that it had been extracted through torture. This week the same judge threw out Jawad’s confession given to US authorities upon his being turned over to the US, ruling that the latter cobfession was the result of fear continuing from his Afghan torture:
in part because the U.S. interrogator used techniques to maintain “the shock and fearful state” associated with his arrest by Afghan police, including blindfolding him and placing a hood over his head.
“The military commission concludes the effect of the death threats which produced the accused’s first confession to the Afghan police had not dissipated by the second confession to the U.S.,” Henley wrote. “In other words, the subsequent confession was itself the product of the preceding death threats.”
According to the former prosecutor, who resigned because he felt vital information was being withheld from the defense, this ddevelopement signifies the end of the case:
“It’s not the death knell of the case _ it buries the case,” said Darrel Vandeveld, a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserves. “The commissions at this point are utterly lifeless.”
Great credit should be given to his vigorous and principled defense attorney, Maj. David Frakt, who has used every tool available to him to fight for his client and for justice and human decency.
Here is the complete AP story:
Gitmo judge tosses out detainee’s 2nd confession
By David McFadden
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A U.S. military judge has blocked Pentagon prosecutors from using a Guantanamo prisoner’s statements to U.S. authorities as trial evidence, saying they were tainted by an earlier confession tortured out of the suspect by Afghan officials.
Mohammed Jawad’s confession to U.S. authorities in Afghanistan following his capture in 2002 was the last incriminating statement available to prosecutors for the Afghan’s war-crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay, his military defense attorney, Air Force Maj. David Frakt, said Thursday.
Wednesday’s dismissal of Jawad’s confession in U.S. custody decimates the government’s case against the Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, according to the former prosecutor, who quit several weeks ago in a dispute over the handling of the case.
“It’s not the death knell of the case _ it buries the case,” said Darrel Vandeveld, a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserves. “The commissions at this point are utterly lifeless.”
Jawad, now about 23, is scheduled to face trial Jan. 5 on charges that he threw a grenade that wounded two American soldiers and their Afghan interpreter. He was 16 or 17 at the time of the 2002 attack in Kabul.
The Army judge, Col. Stephen Henley, ruled last month that Jawad’s confession to Afghan police commanders and high-ranking government officials on Dec. 17, 2002 was only achieved after they threatened to kill him and his family _ a strategy that he said was intended to inflict severe pain and constituted torture.
In Wednesday’s ruling, Henley disqualified Jawad’s second confession while in U.S. custody on Dec. 17 and 18, in part because the U.S. interrogator used techniques to maintain “the shock and fearful state” associated with his arrest by Afghan police, including blindfolding him and placing a hood over his head.
“The military commission concludes the effect of the death threats which produced the accused’s first confession to the Afghan police had not dissipated by the second confession to the U.S.,” Henley wrote. “In other words, the subsequent confession was itself the product of the preceding death threats.”
Under the Military Commissions Act, which governs America’s first war-crimes trials since the World War II era, statements obtained through torture are not admissible. But some statements obtained through “coercion” may be admitted at the discretion of a military judge.
A spokesman for the Pentagon’s Office of Military Commissions, Joseph DellaVedova, said prosecution authorities could not immediately comment on Henley’s ruling.
Hina Shamsi, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that it would be a “tragic legacy” for the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush if Jawad’s case proceeds at Guantanamo.
Entry Filed under: Guantanamo, Interrogation, Law, Torture, War Crimes