Federal Judge Slams U.S. Govt for Ongoing Detention of Alleged Child Soldier at Gitmo

NEW YORK, Jul 27 (IPS) -- A federal judge last week excoriated U.S. government lawyers for advocating the continued detention of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay after his "confession" was ruled inadmissible because it was extracted through torture.

Calling the case "an outrage", U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle urged the lawyers to "let him out. Send him back to Afghanistan."

She also questioned the Justice Department's ability to produce any evidence to justify a trial to determine whether the detainee, Mohammed Jawad, could be held as an enemy combatant.

Jawad was arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 for allegedly throwing a grenade at two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter. He was first imprisoned at Bagram Air Force base, and then illegally rendered to Guantanamo.

According to his lawyers, he was subjected to repeated torture and other mistreatment and to a systematic programme of harsh and highly coercive interrogations designed to break him physically and mentally. Eventually, he tried to commit suicide in his cell by slamming his head repeatedly against the wall.

The Afghan government recently asked the U.S. government to return Jawed and suggested he was as young as 12 when he was captured.

The judge was particularly harsh in her criticism of the U.S. government's case.

Among her comments: "Seven years and this case is riddled with holes...This guy has been there seven years, seven years. He might have been taken there at the age of maybe 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. I don't know what he is doing there."

"This is a case that's been screaming to everybody for years…This is a case unlike all the rest of them. This does not involve intelligence... There is only one question here, did the guy throw a grenade or didn't he throw a grenade. That's the issue. Right? If he didn't do that, you can't win. If you can't prove that, you can't win."

The judge denied the government's request for a delay in Jawad's habeas corpus hearing, but gave the lawyers until later in August to produce new evidence.

Justice Department lawyers have indicated they may decide to bring Jawad to the U.S. for a criminal trial. They asked Judge Huvelle not to release Jawad until criminal investigators can review the allegations against him. Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered that investigation to be put on an "expedited" basis.

Jonathan Hafetz of the American Civil Liberties Union, one of Jawad's lawyers, said he did not believe the government could come up with new evidence to support Jawad's trial in a federal court.

He told IPS, "It is troubling that after admitting it tortured Jawad and illegally imprisoned him for nearly seven years, the government is not sending him home to Afghanistan right away, as law and justice demand, but is considering prolonging is unlawful imprisonment."

"We expect that, upon review, the Justice Department will conclude, as it must, that there is no credible or reliable evidence against Jawad, and end this travesty," Hafetz said.

IPS also discussed the case via email with Jawad's military defense counsel, Major David Frakt. He said it was "disappointing that the Justice Department has not yet been able to conclude the review that President Obama ordered his first week in office."

However, he added, "As the government has now conceded, there is no legal basis to detain Mr. Jawad under the law of war, so he must be repatriated immediately to Afghanistan. The Afghan government has requested Mr. Jawad to be returned, and he is eager to be reunited with his family. Eighty months in illegal detention is enough."

On Jul. 1, the ACLU filed a motion to suppress Jawad's statements, and the Justice Department said it would not oppose that motion. The judge in Jawad's military commission trial had previously suppressed statements made by Jawad to Afghan and U.S. officials following his arrest, finding that they were the product of torture.