Famed Gitmo Lawyer Facing Time in Prison For Writing Letter to Obama Detailing Torture of Client

[FourScore]

Famed Gitmo Lawyer Facing Six Months in Prison For Writing Letter to Obama Detailing Torture of Client
Posted April 2, 2009.

Clive Stafford Smith is accused of 'unprofessional conduct' by Pentagon officials who monitor communication between Gitmo prisoners and their lawyers.

Lawyers for Binyam Mohamed face the incredible prospect of a six-month jail sentence in America after writing a letter to President Obama detailing their client's allegations of torture by U.S. agents.

The privilege review team -- officials from the U.S. Department of Defense who monitor and censor communication between Guantánamo prisoners and their lawyers -- have previously been accused of using their powers to suppress evidence of the abuse and mistreatment of detainees.

Clive Stafford Smith, director of legal charity Reprieve, and his colleague Ahmed Ghappour have been summoned to appear before a Washington court on May 11 after a complaint was made by the privilege review team.

Stafford Smith had written to the president after judges in the UK ruled against the release of U.S. evidence detailing Mohamed's alleged torture at Guantánamo. The letter asked the president to reconsider the U.S. position and urged him to release the evidence into the public domain. He attached a memo summarizing the case because his US security clearance gives him access to the classified material. In order to comply with classification guidelines, the memo did not identify individual officers by name or specify locations of the abuse.

He and Gappour submitted the memo to the privilege team for clearance but the memo was redacted to just the title, leaving the president unable to read it. Stafford Smith included the redacted copy of the memo in his letter to illustrate the extent to which it had been censored. He described it as a "bizarre reality." "You, as commander in chief, are being denied access to material that would help prove that crimes have been committed by U.S. personnel. This decision is being made by the very people who you command."

The privilege team argue that by releasing the redacted memo Reprieve has breached the rules that govern Guantánamo lawyers and have made a complaint to the court of "unprofessional conduct".

Stafford Smith described their actions as intimidation, saying the complaint "doesn't even specify the rule supposedly breached."

http://www.alternet.org/rights/134847/famed_gitmo_lawyer_facing_six_months_in_prison_for_writing_letter_to_obama_detailing_torture_of_client/

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Guess this shows who the Pentagon really works for, doesn't it?

I hope Pres. Obama understands this as well.

[glitch]

13. Ain't that the truth. And Obama needs to not put up with it. ASAP, for his own safety as well as

for Stafford Smith and Gappour. K & R

[tomm2thumbs]

21. Oh, I don't know - I think the letter speaks for itself...

No doubt all those 'and' & 'the' references were giving away the secrets of America

[ThomWV]

26. What? If anything it seems to me to show just the opposite. If they don't work for the President .

Then you have to ask just who it is they do work for. Maybe you can shed some light on the question. Who is it that you suppose is driving that bus? Who is it and what is their goal?

[rateyes]

2. This shit needs to stop, right now. Since when does the government

get to breach attorney-client privilege??

I thought this was the United States of America...not some banana republic.

[ConcernedCanuk]

16. Since when does the government get to breach attorney-client privilege??

.
.
.

OH

just about forever it seems . . .

(sigh)

[ezdidit]

23. there are no "rules"

There are only policies - secret, repressive, anti-Democratic policies - and Mr. Stafford-Smith knows that lawyers don't make policy.

Imagine the chaos if military lawyers were compelled to do their jobs out of conscience instead of deceit...or out of adherence to the UCMJ?

Bush intentionally screwed the pooch on detainee prosecutions, and it will remain for foreign national courts to sort out the conundra - or Congress could repeal the Military Commissions Act and amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice like they were supposed to do.

Oh, but that UCMJ debate opens up a can of 'don't ask, don't tell' amendments, so we can't have that in polite society or on CSPAN. The Amurrican people aren't ready for that yet.

(psssst, Senator Reid: yes we are, even if the whole damn state of Nevada isn't. Maybe it's just time for YOU to go....)

[Solly Mack]

3. So that's the action taken for the letter that was heavily censored

They're going after Stafford Smith

Fuckers

K&R

[EFerrari]

14. This is intimidation, pure and simple. And bet me whoever is pushing this

is Cheney's mole.

[Solly Mack]

15. It will be telling to see how this plays out

[MadHound]

4. Hopefully Obama will become involved in this and correct this travesty

If not, then he has become part of the problem. A leader needs to lead, not hide behind protocol and chain of command.

[TroglodyteScholar]

17. How can Obama hide behind chain of command?

He is the TOP of the chain, and he needs to behave that way in this matter....

[imdjh]

22. Controlling access to the President is part of what the President does

It doesn't matter which party it is. It isn't what he knows or doesn't know, it's what others can prove he has seen or been told.

[TheBigotBasher]

5. K&R

There are going to be so many laws and Executive Orders that have led to this mess that we are in now that it is unlikely that any President will be able (or in some circumstances willing) to overturn them.

I remain convinced that there needs to be a full Bush Blair War crimes tribunal.

[ProgressIn2008]

6. I don't know how many more excuses can be made, at this point. nt

[TheBigotBasher]

8. There is 8 years worth of

authoritarian legislation and practice to overturn. As well as orders given much lower down the food chain than the President and VP but done in their name.

This is a mighty big ship to turn around and doing so will not be easy.

[chill_wind]

7. Some DU backthreads...

one from a couple days ago on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5381531

[williesgirl]

9. It's not exactly like Obama doesn't have security clearance! This is bullshit and must stop. rec'd

[williesgirl]

10. deleted dup message

[Supersedeas]

11. and when the ABA is put on the spot, who do you think they will support??

My guess....Bybee, Yoo, Gonzalez et al.

[Jim Lane]

18. The ABA has frequently opposed Bush administration depredations

The American Bar Association represents the legal establishment, but has often been on the side of the lawyers who were fighting to uphold Constitutional rights against Bybee, Yoo, Gonzales, etc.

Here's just one example I happened to find in a quick Google search (there are others). The ABA filed in opposition to one of the Bush administration's attempts to defy the habeas corpus rule in a case related to the Iraq War. The ABA wrote:

The government argues that its actions are immune
from judicial review because it is operating as part of a
“multinational force.” The ABA respectfully asserts that
this argument is inconsistent with this Court’s ruling in
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld that United States citizens have habeas
rights even when they are captured abroad and designated
“enemy combatants.” See 542 U.S. 507, 533 (2004)
(plurality opinion). Operation as part of a multinational
force should not be permitted to defeat the United States
government’s responsibilities to its citizens. Unreviewable
military action is not consistent with American legal principles.

[barbtries]

12. he deserves a medal

instead he's looking at jail? very fucked up.

[BlooInBloo]

19. Good man.

[gratuitous]

20. Wait, the privilege team redacted the memo . . .

I thought the purpose of redacting was so that nothing "classified" got out. If the title of the memo made it past the privilege team, then it can become a matter of public record, no? This just boggles the mind. I have just frickin' had it with this Pentagon bullshit.

[Hubert Flottz]

24. As long as Gates and other members of the Rummy/Bush

team are in a position to commit crimes the shit will never stop.

The Obama team is in denial. They still don't understand that we were a dictatorship in everything but name, for the past eight years. If they do get it then they are part of it too.

Obama thinks he still needs to spy on us, so until that changes, there is no real "CHANGE"

The only changes I'm seeing is that team Obama is calling the same shit Bush was doing by new names to try and fool people.

Clive Stafford Smith is just another victim of the stupid idea that you can trust republicans not to act like republicans.

[EFerrari]

28. And doesn't Clive still have other active cases at Gitmo? n/t

[Jefferson23]

25. Holy shit, this is a terrible indicator of what is ahead, they must be sweating

profusely to have attempted this, unbelievable. Somebody pinch me, are we still living in the USA?

[pberq]

27. Thanks for posting - nt