rssACLU to Argue Against Use of Evidence Obtained Through Torture in Federal Court
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 6:31 pm
- 12 Comments
The American Civil Liberties Union will file a brief tomorrow urging the federal court to suppress evidence gathered using torture, which the government wants to rely on in the case of Mohammed Jawad, the boy who “confessed” to throwing a grenade at U.S. soldiers after being arrested and tortured by Afghan authorities in 2002, then turned over to U.S. authorities for more abuse.
Also tomorrow, after numerous delays, the Obama administration is expected to produce a much-anticipated 2004 CIA inspector general’s report with more details and criticism of the Bush administration’s interrogation tactics.
As I explained in my last post on the Jawad case, the Obama administration is trying to keep holding Jawad — who’s been in U.S. custody without charge for almost seven years — based on those tortured confessions, which even a military judge previously deemed too unreliable to use in his military commission case.
The ACLU will argue tomorrow that the federal judge in Jawad’s habeas corpus case should rule that evidence gathered through torture is still too unreliable — and therefore inadmissible — to be the basis for continuing to keep him in prison indefinitely.
Although the Jawad case appears to be the first in which the Obama is seeking to rely on evidence obtained through torture, it’s just one of many examples of the government’s refusal to acknowledge the legacy of torture under the Bush administration — and its consequences.
There are, of course, the now-notorious photographs of detainee abuse that the Obama administration has kept from being released, despite the orders of a federal court to turn them over. And then there’s the fact, which Glenn Greenwald, Marcy Wheeler, Daily Kos and John Sifton have been writing about, that there are a whole lot of unsolved murders and mysterious autopsy reports concerning the brutal deaths of detainees in U.S. custody, for which almost no one has been held accountable.
In many cases, these deaths weren’t the result of waterboarding or some other act that Obama administration officials have admitted are torture; they seem to have been the result of ordinary “enhanced” interrogations: beatings, stress positions, food and sleep deprivation and the like.
According to a report from Human Rights First, about 100 detainees have died in U.S. custody since August 2002, but only 12 deaths have resulted in punishment of any kind for U.S. officials.
The ACLU has embarked on an important campaign for accountability for the torture and abuse that U.S. officials have inflicted on detainees. That includes ongoing efforts to unearth more information, to press for prosecutions of those who authorized the abuse, and to compensate the victims, many of whom, like Jawad, still remain in U.S. custody.
Tomorrow’s brief arguing that tortured evidence shouldn’t be the basis for continuing to hold detainees is a small but important step.
12 Comments
Pingback posted June 30, 2009 @ 10:45 pm
[...] More links: Daphne Eviatar Christy Hardin Smith digby Valtin ACLU’s Jameel Jeffer Rev. Scotty McClennan Arielle Gingold [...]
Pingback posted June 30, 2009 @ 11:14 pm
[...] [...]
Pingback posted July 1, 2009 @ 12:05 am
[...] More links: Daphne Eviatar Christy Hardin Smith digby Valtin ACLU’s Jameel Jeffer Rev. Scotty McClennan Arielle Gingold [...]
Comment posted July 1, 2009 @ 1:03 am
Torture huh? The ACLU has always manifested a strong sense of support for any enemy of America. Given a choice, I would choose to be waterboarded rather than have my head cut off, slowly. The ACLU doesn't realize that when dealing with a savage, primitive enemy, you need to somehow get their attention. A couple of pours and they may suddenly find reason to believe that maybe the Deity is not on their side
Comment posted July 1, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
gtb6666 – you're obviously a moron. your post is stupefyingly ignorant on so many levels, I don't know where to begin. did you even read the article?
Pingback posted July 1, 2009 @ 11:56 pm
[...] mcjoan at Daily Kos: Accountability for Torture, Accountability for the Deaddigby: Looking in the Rearview Mirror ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer: Accountability for TortureChristy Hardin Smith at FDL: Tortured Logic: A News Round-Up And The ACLU’s Accountability InitiativeDaphne Eviatar at The Washington Independent: ACLU to Argue Against Use of Evidence Obtained Through Torture in Federal Court [...]
Comment posted July 5, 2009 @ 8:18 pm
gtb6666. These ignorant comments fail to realize the magnificent work being done every day for human rights by the ACLU. Not only are individual injustices being challenged and those who have been unfairly imprisoned freed, but unfair and unjust bills are challenged and often successfully opposed.
A large part of the freedoms which we share today is a direct result of past work by the ACLU. To call these ongoing fights for democracy anti-American is an absurdity.
Given a choice, no-one would like to be water boarded, which is being repeatedly drowned, having water go down your trachea (windpipe) into your lungs. One of the victims of waterboarding was drowned in this way 183 times!
When you call other people savages, you are showing great ignorance and prejudice. One of the victims of American soldiers was savagely beaten on the legs with his hands handcuffed to the ceiling of his cell for 4 days until he died. At his autopsy all the muscles of his legs had been beaten to a pulp. He was an innocent taxi-driver. Imagine if your own father or you were treated this way! You might think that those who beat you in this cruel way were savages! Human Rights organizations have revealed that more than 100 prisoners of the USA have been tortured to death during the Bush era. I would be most interested to know which enemy of the USA you think that the ACLU has supported. I imagine that they too would be very interested to find out which enemy they supported !
All of these brutalities must give us cause to reflect on our own moral and ethical standards !
Comment posted July 6, 2009 @ 12:09 am
Malkatraz…cute. Is that your name, present residence or ultimate destination? You couldn't tell a moron from an ACORN.
Comment posted July 6, 2009 @ 1:04 am
Dear Seasnake, Youu sound like a nice young man with high ideals but naive and inexperienced. Torture? I served in the Army with a survivor of the Bataan Death March, and know people who survived 9/11. They'll take waterboarding (some did during SERE training) anytime rather than beheading, slowly. Savages? Maybe you read Rousseau's work on this but it ain't real. How else would you describe animals that load kids and or women with bombs
and send them in to kill people – and themselves. How do you describe a culture that demeans women and denies them any basic human rights. ACLU? Founded by Roger Baldwin, a member of the Communist Party, USA. What else do you need to know? What do you want to be when you grow up?
Comment posted July 7, 2009 @ 4:09 am
we are being tortured right here in america.I am a victim of electronic gang stalking. Microchiped w/o permission. Call Me @ 707-342-5160 for more information.
Pingback posted July 8, 2009 @ 7:04 am
[...] ACLU to Argue Against Use of Evidence Obtained Through Torture in Federal Court [...]
Comment posted July 9, 2009 @ 4:39 pm
A critical point. If you allow evidence gotten through Torture, you are accepting Torture as being legal. It is of course a violation of our Federal Anti-Torture Laws.
Keep the pressure on to prosecute the Torturers.
If Obama doesn't he is Soft On Crime
SIGN THE PETITION
calling for prosecution of
Bush's Torturers at ANGRYVOTERS.ORG
Over 250,000 have signed
Join them and call yourself a patriot
.
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