GITMO Prosecutor Quits

Defense attorneys for Mohammed Jawad say a Guantanamo prosecutor has resigned in the face of exculpatory evidence being withheld by the Justice Department. If there ever were any hope of justice being the outcome in these military tribunals the wee small glimmer that once was that hope continues to fail as more evidence comes to light.

Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld left his post and now supports the defense in this case. Charges were filed against Jawad by the convening authority on October 9, 2007. Jawad is accused of throwing a grenade at a U.S. military vehicle on December 17, 2002. He has been in various custodies beginning in Afghanistan and continuing to Guantanamo. Various diaries of Jawad’s tale may be found here at NION including this by Valtin. Others by Alexa are also worth a read.

The basic issue here is one of human rights. Jawad has been held for almost 6 years in a time when most young men find their future being formed. His time in detention has been marked by a trail of tears.

Jawad has alleged that Afghan police tortured and beat him and threatened to kill him if he did not confess.

And further

The records show that prison guards moved Jawad from cell to cell 112 times over a two week period, shackling, moving and unshackling him on average every two hours and fifty minutes.

And now after all this time we hear the bad news of evidence being withheld.

Vandeveld said prosecutors knew Jawad may have been drugged before the attack and that the Afghan Interior Ministry said two other men had confessed to the same crime, Berrigan said. Pentagon officials refused to provide a copy of the declaration.

Jawad is only one of the 250 held in Guantanamo today.

Jawad is one of about 20 detainees facing charges in the Pentagon's specially designed system for prosecuting alleged terrorists. Military prosecutors say they plan trials for about 80 of the 255 men held here on suspicion of links to al Qaeda or the Taliban.

What of the others? What is their fate to be? And even worse, what about all the detainees whose names and locations are not known as they are held in “ghost” status?

Peace.