Categories
Join Us At:
|
Bob Herbert on Mohammed Jawad: "How Long Is Enough?"Bob Herbert has an excellent piece in The New York Times today about our habeas corpus case on behalf of Mohammed Jawad. The Afghan government recently sent a letter to the U.S. government demanding Jawad’s return and suggesting he was as young as 12 when he was captured in Afghanistan and illegally rendered from that country almost seven years ago. The U.S. government continues to rely on evidence obtained through torture and coercion in Jawad’s habeas challenge to his unlawful detention, despite the fact that the very same evidence was suppressed by the judge in Jawad’s military commission trial. Jawad was still a boy when he was captured in Afghanistan. He was coerced into signing a confession written in Farsi, a language he could not speak, much less read or write (in fact, Jawad was functionally illiterate even in his native language of Pashto). He was later rendered to Bagram and then to Guantánamo, where he was subjected to the worst forms of torture. After weeks of isolation and abuse, Jawad tried to kill himself by repeatedly banging his head against the wall of his cell. No doubt irreparable harm has been done to Mohammed Jawad’s body and mind. The U.S. has no credible evidence against him. And yet he remains captive in U.S. custody. Writes Herbert of Jawad’s harrowing story: [S]ince his capture he has been tortured and otherwise put through hell. The evidence against him has been discredited. He has tried to commit suicide. But the U.S. won’t let him go.Andy Worthington has also written about Jawad here.
Tags: Close Guantanamo
We intend the comments portion of this blog to be a forum where you can freely express your views on blog postings and on comments made by other people. Given that, please understand that you are responsible for the material you post on the comments portion of this blog. The only postings that we ask that you refrain from posting and that we cannot permit on our website are requests for legal assistance and postings that could cause ACLU to incur legal liability.
One important law in that regard is the prohibition on politically partisan activity. Given our nonprofit status, we may not endorse or oppose candidates for elective office. That means we cannot host comments on our site that show a preference for one candidate or party. Although we in no way wish to discourage you from that activity elsewhere, we ask that you not engage in that activity on our website (or include links to other websites that do so). Additionally, given that we are subject to very specific rules concerning the collection of personally identifying information through our website (names, email addresses, home address, financial information, etc.), we ask that you not use the comments portion of this blog to solicit this information from users of our website. We also ask that you not use the comments portion for advertising or requests for legal assistance, and do not add to your comment links to other websites, as we cannot be responsible for the content on other websites. We are not able to respond to unsolicited inquiries, complaints or requests for assistance sent to this blog. Please direct your complaint or request for assistance to the ACLU affiliate in your state. Requests for legal assistance left in the blog comments will not receive a response or be published. Finally, the ACLU cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information in the comment section and expressly disclaims any liability for any information in this section. 6 Responses to "Bob Herbert on Mohammed Jawad: "How Long Is Enough?"" |
|
|
© ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 |
Jun 30th, 2009 at 2:30pm
This is beyond disgusting.
Does the Unites States and the war mongers think they can end terrorism if the world thinks that they are no better
than Ben Laden.Do the the criminals that
commit these crimes and those that encourage them realise that while they remain safe brave soldiers who commited no crimes are going to die and be maimed
because of the hatred they have generated.
The war mongers love to proclaim their love for the troops but all they succeed
in doing is get the poor buggers killed.
Jul 1st, 2009 at 10:45am
You people are incredible. I don't know where you come from. Try doing something for a REAL cause, nevermind defending people that are trying to kill our citizens and troops. You make me sick. If people like you were around during WWII I don't think this great nation would be here today. Get a real job and quit trying to become "glorified" at the expense of somebody else's hardships. Disgusting.
Jul 1st, 2009 at 4:12pm
What evidence do we have of torturing of this boy besides this article?
Jul 4th, 2009 at 7:44am
Why should we care what happens to these people. we should take what ever means to get what information out of these people. All these people want to do is kill us and they would kill the people how are trying to protect them if they get a chance
Jul 8th, 2009 at 12:39pm
Scotty, if you read the linked articles, you will find that military court judges agreed that this child had been tortured until he confessed. I will presume that they had access to evidence we do not.
Dan, who are "these people" to whom you refer? Muslims, non-citizens? Terrorists? If the latter, this is the story of a 12 year old boy snatched off the streets and tortured until he confessed to a crime, not a terrorist.
Aug 14th, 2009 at 6:58am
I can't understand these people who defend torture A Gentleman mentioned about WW II has he never thought about all the Jews that were tortured by the Nazi's.
You can't fight terrorism with terrorism.
Jim W