Jul 15th, 2009
Posted by Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:05pm	Torture

Tortured Evidence Out in Child Soldier Case

Today we learned that evidence gained through the torture of Mohammed Jawad would not be used against him in his federal court case challenging his unlawful detention. Jawad was a young boy when captured in Afghanistan in 2002. Evidence gained through torture following Jawad's arrest was previously thrown out by the judge in Jawad's military commission hearing. In his habeas case, the government had sought to rely on this same evidence, as well as statements obtained through torture and other coercion at Guantanamo and Bagram.

Evidence gleaned during his military commission proceedings confirm Jawad was subjected to repeated torture and other mistreatment and to a systematic program of harsh and highly coercive interrogations designed to break him physically and mentally. In December 2003, Jawad tried to commit suicide in his cell by slamming his head repeatedly against the wall. 

Andy Worthington profiled Jawad's case last month, offering many details about the torture he endured.

Now that the coerced evidence has been thrown out and there is no credible evidence against him, we're asking the government to drop the charges against Jawad.

Jawad has been at Gitmo for nearly seven years. It's time to send him home.

Permalink |	Torture

Tags: Close Guantanamo

1. Miranda Says:
   Jul 15th, 2009 at 5:30pm

   If we have permanently messed up Jawad's emotional well being then we actually owe him a life which he might possibly never get back.
   And this was a child, folks.
   Be ashamed america, be very ashamed!

2. Captain Sticky Says:
   Jul 15th, 2009 at 6:17pm

   OK, but did he throw the grenade? If he did, that's attempted murder, isn't it?
   Given that "our" methods of interrogation were not used but perhaps the act itself should be paramount. If your 12 year old son threw a grenade my way, I would not be polite. Neither would you.
   So, no trial?

3. Captain Sticky Says:
   Jul 16th, 2009 at 1:57pm

   Did he toss the grenade? Do we now say "never mind, what you did is OK"? If a grenade was tossed at you or your children would you forgive and forget? When he gets home, will he enter the food industry or choose revenge? What would you do?
   So, no trial at all?

4. Jewels Lane Says:
   Jul 16th, 2009 at 3:38pm

   Please send Mohammed Jawad home.
   He will need a lifetime of healing to be whole again.

5. Paen Says:
   Jul 17th, 2009 at 1:56pm

   The people who should be in a cage are
   the low lifes on both sides who abused this child.Such people are nothing but the lowest form of criminals.

6. Vic Livingston Says:
   Jul 17th, 2009 at 2:58pm

   "When you see the abuse of power, you've got to speak."

   -- VP candidate Joseph Biden, Aug. 27, 2008, Democratic National Convention

   WHEN WILL ACLU SPEAK OUT AGAINST DOMESTIC TORTURE?

   ***

   Are DOMESTIC 'HIT SQUADS' THE REAL 'ASSASSINATION RING' STORY?

   THE EXTRAJUDICIAL PUNISHMENT MATRIX:

   AN IDEOLOGICALLY-DRIVEN SOCIAL PURGE THAT VIOLATES THE HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS OF INNOCENT BUT 'TARGETED' U.S. CITIZENS...

   And federal citizen volunteer programs fund the GPS-activated "community gang stalkers" who are terrorizing their neighbors as police look the other way...

   ...harassing, vandalizing, destroying their livelihoods as their health is degraded by widely-deployed microwave and laser radiation ("directed energy weapons" -- the long-feared weaponization of the electromagnetic spectrum.

   And Congress and the mainstream media are largely unaware.

   A parallel array of federal "programs of personal financial destruction" slowly decimate the family finances of "target" families -- surely a factor in the mortgage meltdown that precipitated the global financial crisis.

   And Congress and the mainstream media are largely unaware.

   When victims complain, they are told there is "nothing to investigate."

   True -- because federal and local authorities KNOW ALL ABOUT IT.

   Will Congress, the national press corps, and Team Obama wake up and realize that democracy and human rights are being stolen at the GRASSROOTS?

   http://nowpublic.com/world/gestapo-usa-govt-funded- vigilante-network-terrorizes-america

   OR (if links are corrupted / disabled):

   http://NowPublic.com/scrivener RE: "GESTAPO USA"

7. roald Says:
   Jul 17th, 2009 at 8:21pm

   Did he throw the grenade? No one knows, but the child knows. Under our laws a child that age cannot be held responsible for these crimes.

   He was arrested, but the only evidence was a confession gained under torture. How would you feel if your 12-year child had been tortured into confessing and then placed into a torture chamber for years?

8. shawn Says:
   Jul 17th, 2009 at 10:07pm

   ok so next you are gonna tell me that terrorists have rights too. no credible evidence.... so now you have no faith in the soldiers that protect your rights to do all that you do. do you know how stupid that is? i am a combat vet. i know first hand what its like to lose a bad guy to red tape, and it is retarded let us do our job. thats what we are here for so that you dont have to step outside your little bubble.

9. shawn Says:
   Jul 17th, 2009 at 10:11pm

   wanted to add this... little kids can be terrorists too, i know its messed up but do you have any idea what it would be for a soldier to have to take a child's life? we do what we have to in order to protect not just ourselves but also our brothers. that doesnt mean we enjoy them. unless you have taken the life of a child because you had no other choice you can not judge us in our duty

10. Michael Tuck Says:
    Jul 18th, 2009 at 1:22pm

    We've covered Jawad's case extensively on the History Commons's Prisoner Abuse project:

    http://www.historycommons.org/

    (just go to Timelines and scroll down)

    From what we've been able to put together, the evidence against Jawad re: the charges of throwing a grenade at US soldiers is weak at best. And the years of torture, negligence, and abuse he suffered at Guantanamo calls into question any evidence that might be submitted against him in a court of law. I'm no lawyer, just a researcher, but I can't see any way criminal charges can ever be brought against him. If that's the case, then the only other option is to release him.

    Michael Tuck
    http://www.historycommons.org/

11. Heerup Says:
    Jul 19th, 2009 at 8:56am

    If he tossed the grenade, it was an act of war--not punnishable. Please figure it out.

12. Paen Says:
    Jul 20th, 2009 at 2:14pm

    Shawn we are not talking about soldiers
    defending themselves in combat.We are talking about a child that had already been disarmed and the back of the line wonders who get their kicks torturing people.Like every war you have the grunts who do the fightind and you have
    the camp followers who traditionaly rob the dead and rape any women captured.

13. Scott Says:
    Jul 21st, 2009 at 11:52am

    Shawn,

    It is a pernicious argument that we must take all soldiers at their word only because they're soldiers. They are men and women, humans, and they are fallible as you and I.

14. American Vet Says:
    Jul 22nd, 2009 at 1:36am

    Okay gang....little kids can be killers too!! Look at the gangs in this country, we had 10-15 year old kids killing Americans in Vietnam, jsu we have in the Middle East combat.

    If he threw the grenade, then he should sufer the penalty, death!! Military interogation methods are not torture and are not cruel. Torture may happen, some soldiers get carried away perhaps, it happens in war, just as civilians are killed in a war, but a murderer is a murderer.

    When you see your friends and comrades being killed by these terrorists and their IED's and there cowardly suicide bombers, it takes a lot out of you, and when you catch these little heathens, you crack. Any honest vet will tell you that.

    As Scott said "They are men and women, humans, and they are fallible as you and I."

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