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Federal court suppresses detainee statements allegedly obtained by torture

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday ordered the suppression of all out-of-court statements made by Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad that may have been elicited through torture. Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) chose not to oppose a motion to suppress the statements filed by Jawad's lawyers. The court also denied the DOJ's request to have a hearing on the merits of their case against Jawad postponed past August 5, finding that granting the delay would violate the 2008 ruling in Boumediene v. Bush, which requires prompt habeas corpus hearings for the detainees. The DOJ has until July 24 to file their factual and legal basis for holding Jawad, without the benefit of the suppressed statements. Jawad's case has been controversial due to repeated delays in the proceedings. In May, Jawad's military lawyers asked the Supreme Court of Afghanistan to demand his release from Guantanamo. The petition for his release was because the planned closure of the facility allegedly delayed the case in the US. In April, a federal judge ruled that Jawad's habeas petition should not be delayed. Jawad has been charged with attempted murder and intentionally causing serious bodily injury for his alleged role in a December 2002 grenade attack in Kabul that injured two US soldiers and an Afghan translator. In May 2008, Jawad moved to have all charges against him dismissed on the basis of the abuse he claimed to have suffered.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on July 20, 2009 (boomark / email).