Judge: Charge or Release GITMO Detainee in Three Weeks

by: Richard Allen Smith

Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 15:45:00 PM EDT


A US District Court judge has ordered the release a detainee held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for the past 6 1/2 years. Mohammad Jawad is accused of having thrown a grenade into a US vehicle, injuring two Soldiers and their interpreter when he was 12 years-old (although the Pentagon alleges that he was 17. Seems like a pretty big gap to me).

The BBC has more on the case:

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ian Gershengorn told the court the US was still deciding whether to pursue a criminal case against Mr Jawad.

That would mean he could still be returned to the US, or have his repatriation delayed, to stand trial in a criminal court.

Judge Huvelle gave government lawyers three weeks to file the criminal case, but urged them not to do so.

The impact of this decision and whether or not Jawad should be repatriated or tried in US courts is going to be rehashed by plenty of others as this story develops. I'll let you draw your own conclusions there. What I want to focus on is this graph from the BBC article:

The Afghan government has requested that he be sent home and in October 2008, a US military judge ruled confessions Mr Jawad had made were inadmissible because they were obtained under torture.

Wow. What does that say about us as a country and the way we've conducted ourselves in our recent operations when we tortured a boy who was as young as 12 and no older than 17?  

Richard Allen Smith :: Judge: Charge or Release GITMO Detainee in Three Weeks
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