Mohammed Jawad by many accounts was 12 or 13 yrs old when he was first tortured by the Afghans and told his family would be murdered if he didn't "confess" that he had thrown a grenade while he had a fallen wall on top of him. After his "confession" he was rendered to GITMO where he still is imprisoned. A full third of his childhood/teenage yrs spent in a fenced in cage, housed with violent adults and abused by even more violent US Guards. So much so he tried to take his own life by bashing his head into the wall over and over again.
In recent rulings a Federal Judge has thrown out most if not all of the so-called evidence against Jawad. In a desperate move the DOJ tried to move the case to a different court once again but found that road blocked this time. As of today Jawad could be home in 22 days, a period of time needed to inform Congress and a "cooling off " period.
I first wrote about Jawad when his story first hit the public realm and have followed his case closer than any other. This news gives me hope but until Jawad is safely home I have no plans to surrender my realistic view of those who could upset this cart at any min.
U.S. says it's willing to send young Afghan detainee home
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday said it plans to release a young Guantanamo detainee after military and civilian judges banned almost all evidence against him that they ruled was extracted through torture.
Government attorneys, however, reserved the right to file new charges in federal court against Mohammed Jawad if they find evidence against him before he's freed.
The Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle to grant them 22 days to release Jawad — seven days to notify Congress of the release plans, as current law requires, and then 15 days until a cooling off period mandated by law expires.
The DOJ has been walking a very shaky tightrope with Judge Huvelle. Her Honor has repeatedly scolded, belittled and general treated the prosecution with major scorn over the last couple months. Here is a taste of her feelings.
U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said what we were all thinking when she told the government that its case against Jawad was "in shambles" during a hearing on July 16. Judge Huvelle told the government’s lawyers — in no uncertain terms — that their failure to bring a viable case against Jawad, despite having illegally detained him for almost seven years, amounts to an insult to the court and an outrage against justice. Judge Huvelle put it best in her own scathing criticism of the government’s lawyers:
This case is riddled with holes. And you know it ... The United States Government knows it is lousy. If you can’t rely on [Jawad]’s statements, you have a lousy case ... The case is in shambles.
Without even illegally obtained statements to rely on, Judge Huvelle asserted, the case against Jawad "has been gutted." And since the judge’s opinion represents the final word in Jawad’s habeas corpus proceedings, the hearing should have been an opportunity for the government to admit defeat. Judge Calls Government Case Against Jawad "Lousy"
This new report from Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers almost caps a story she has been on top of from day one, along with most the GITMO reporting there has been. It is not over yet tho.
Tomorrow is Habeas Hearing where the ACLU is asking the Judge for his immediate release. A Afghan official was quoted yesterday as saying he would rent a plane out of his own pocket to get Jawad home as soon as possible if Jawad was ordered released. Hearing details.