Word: namo
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...military tribunals of terror suspects at Guantánamo suffered a serious legal setback this week - this time, not at the hands of any civilian judges but by the ruling of one of the military's own jurists. Navy Judge Captain Keith Allred, hearing the first U.S. military commission trial since World War II, tossed out statements by Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, because he believes they were obtained under "highly coercive" conditions. That doesn't bode well for future tribunals in cases where U.S. interrogators used even harsher techniques - such as the waterboarding used on confessed...
...This is a watershed moment because for many of these people, these kinds of statements - by themselves or from other detainees - are all the evidence there is," says Joshua Dratel, a New York City lawyer who represented terror suspect David Hicks during the Australian's stay at Guantánamo. "For the high-value detainees, there's an acknowledgement that a lot more [was done] to them in the black sites - waterboarding and other serious forms of abuse - and you really have to wonder if anything said under those conditions can be [considered] reliable and fair [evidence...
...used in civilian trials, allow the admission of pre-2005 testimony gleaned during "cruel" and "inhuman" interrogations, so long as the judge deems that evidence relevant and reliable. The rules also permit hearsay evidence. The judge said he would not bar statements Hamdan made after arriving at Guantánamo, where the trial's opening arguments took place Tuesday. But he insisted that prosecutors present the interrogators involved to explain the conditions under which Hamdan made those statements...
...Allred continues to crimp the government's case. "The decision may have a significant impact on Mr. Hamdan's case, but it doesn't change the fact that the system in place allows for the introduction of coerced evidence," says Deborah Colson, who has dealt with the Guantánamo proceedings as a lawyer with Human Rights First. "It doesn't change the fact that the system is fundamentally flawed...
...deteriorated mentally to the point where he can no longer meaningfully assist in his own criminal defense. He is suicidal, hears voices inside his head and talks to himself. And yet his trial, which is taking place in a small courtroom at Guantánamo Bay, will still influence the future of the tribunal system. Under the rules of the tribunal, Hamdan faces a jury of military officers who will decide his innocence or guilt. Whether their decision is perceived as fair will go a long way toward determining if the military tribunals that President Bush first authorized...