Raw Story...US Judge: OK to extract confessions by threatening suspects with rape

[FedUpWithIt All]

Globe and Mail reports,

"In May hearings, a man identified as Interrogator 1 said in testimony that he threatened Mr. Khadr with being gang-raped to death if he did not co-operate. That interrogator was later identified as former U.S. Army Sergeant Joshua Claus. He has also been convicted of abusing a different detainee and has left the military.

Mr. Khadr’s military-appointed lawyer, Lieutenant-Colonel Jon Jackson, argued this instance, as well as other alleged instances of torture and coercion, are enough to render any future confessions – even those in so-called “clean” interrogations – inadmissible in court."

Although Khadr's confessions were obtained in this manner, the military judge presiding over the case ruled they are still admissible as evidence.

Another Guantanamo detainee, a former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, has already entered a plea agreement, but information about his sentence has been sealed by a US military judge.

In response to the two tribunals, Jennifer Turner writes at the American Civil Liberties Union's Blog of Rights:

"Although President Obama promised transparency and sharp limits on the use of tortured and coerced statements against the accused, at Guantánamo today one military judge ordered that a sentence be kept secret from the public and another military judge allowed statements obtained by abuse and coercion of a 15-year-old to be used at trial."

The United Nations has also condemned Khadr's trial, saying that "the statute of the International Criminal Court makes it clear that no one under 18 will be tried for war crimes," and noting that "no child has been prosecuted for a war crime" since World War II.

http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=http%3a%2f%2frawstory.com%2frs%2f2010%2f0811%2f15yearold-gitmo-detainee-threatened%2f&d=66983265501238&mkt=en-IN&setlang=en-IN&w=af618814,c635032f

This is NOT what i voted for.:mad:

[derby378]

1. Wonder if Gibbs has a smartass response for this?

:mad:

[EFerrari]

2. by threatening kids with repeated rape.

USA!

[FedUpWithIt All]

8. This kid was held for eight long years based on a confession obtained by threats of violent rape.

More...

In spite of his juvenile status at the time of his capture, the United States has refused to acknowledge his status as a child, or to apply universally recognized standards of juvenile justice in his case. Both US and international law allow for detention of juveniles only as a last resort, require juveniles to be provided educational opportunities and housed separately from adults, and mandate a prompt determination of all cases involving children. Yet, Khadr has been incarcerated with adults, reportedly subjected to abusive interrogations, and not been provided any educational opportunities (as have other children at Guantanamo). In addition, he was detained for more than two years before he was provided access to an attorney, and for more than three years before he was charged. He was initially charged in the first round of military commissions, which were ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court. Another two years passed before he was re-charged before the current military commissions.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/04/omar-ahmed-khadr

[villager]

3. I just love what "change" is doing for America!

n/t

[Scurrilous]

4. I don't think we get to vote for US military judges. n/t

[JonLP24]

11. Not what the OP meant

Obama said the desire to punish the perpetrators of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, shouldn't blind people to the flaws of the military tribunals that the Bush administration established to try Guantanamo inmates.

"These trials will need to be above reproach," the Illinois senator said in a statement Monday. "These trials are too important to be held in a flawed military commission system that has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9/11 attacks and that has been embroiled in legal challenges."

Obama said the men should be tried either in a U.S. criminal court or by military court-martial, either of which would "demonstrate our commitment to the rule of law." Both those systems are more protective of defendants' rights than military tribunals, which allow evidence obtained through coercion and hearsay.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-02-13/news/17142264_1_tribunals-guantanamo-inmates-military-prison


Obama to revive Guantánamo military tribunals

US president says trials of detainees will be made fairer, banning evidence obtained from cruel treatment

Barack Obama will revive the heavily criticised George Bush-era military tribunals for detainees at Guantánamo Bay but will make them fairer, according to US officials.

Obama suspended the tribunals within hours of taking office in January, ordering a review of the military commission system. But he stopped short of abandoning the process altogether.

The military trials will remain frozen for another four months as the administration adjusts the legal system – expected to try fewer than 20 of the 241 detainees at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.

Officials say the amended system would limit the use of hearsay and ban evidence gained from cruel treatment, including the use of "waterboarding", a form of simulated drowning.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/barack-obama-revives-guantanamo-tribunals

[Hell Hath No Fury]

13. O made the (bad) choice to --

allow tribunals like this -- where "confession" or "evidence" is gotten by illegal and immoral means.

It Mr. Constituational Scholar's choice to do this, no one elses.

[FedUpWithIt All]

14. No but some of us did vote based on the promises of a closure of Guantanamo

and the military commissions as well as an end to the use of torture evidence.

[mmonk]

16. What about those that support and allow military kangaroo courts?

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Thom Hartmann was speaking of this yesterday.

I'm sickened that these sorts of rulings are made in OUR name. I don't recognize the country I live in anymore.

[JonLP24]

6. This is why tribunals are a bad idea

[kenny blankenship]

7. BTW: the interrogator who debriefed 15 y.o. Omar was later court-martialled for abuse of detainees

in a case that involved the death of a detainee.

(That's for the woodchucks who are thinking about automatically discounting the defense's charge that Khadr was tortured and threatened with gang rape. Not calling anybody out - you know who you are.)

[Ignis]

23. "the woodchucks who are thinking"

That's a pretty small percentage to begin with.

[Octafish]

9. John Yoo said it was OK to crush a child's testicles, if it led to info the pretzeldent wants.

Bush Advisor Says President Has Legal Power to Torture Children

Just to be clear: I am not equating Obama with Bush, but I don't like it when they agree on something so elemental as Justice as it applies to the rule of law, the war on terror and protecting the rights of children.

[rhett o rick]

35. You must be one of those "Professional Leftists", Gibbs was referring to.

:toast:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. Tribunals -- the place where...

cases go because we don't have enough genuine evidence to convict them in our legal system. :puke:

Obama makes me sick -- He IS just like W on this issue. Where's my fucking drug test????

[mmonk]

12. Que in Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American"

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. I just do not understand any judge allowing this

The next question is how much torture is too much? What if the suspect was actually gang raped resulting in a "confession"? Is that level of coercion different than simply threatening gang rape?

What if a detainees wife or daughter was threatened with gang rape in an effort to get a confession? What if they were actually gang raped to extract information from a detainee? Would that be allowable?

It is a sad day when any American judge, civilian or military, could render such a horrific ruling.

[G_j]

17. threatened with being gang-raped to death

Are Americans OK with this?


Threatened With Being Gang-Raped To Death

[FedUpWithIt All]

18. No...

but I'm afraid it was done in our names all the same. x(

[JohnyCanuck]

19. Canada is much better than the USA in this respect

It just allows threats of rape and sexual assualt to be used on prisoners, but apparently doesn't (yet) try to use this as a means to extract confessions to be used in court. Yay for Canada.

From the account of one of the protesters arrested at the Toronto G20:

Every prisoner I've spoken to experienced some type of verbal abuse at the hands of officers. Based on appearance, the officers categorized and harassed people according to race, gender, sexual orientation, physical capability, gender identity, presumed income and whatever else came to their minds. A person in a cell next to mine was told to 'stop crying, faggot'. A racialized person was told 'we let you into this country and this is what you do?'. A woman was told she was going to be repeatedly raped while she was in jail. The scope and consistency of the verbal abuse in the detention centre is difficult to articulate.

After being interrogated, I was led to be strip searched. When I repeated several times that I wanted to speak to a lawyer before being strip searched, I was surrounded by approximately eight officers. A male officer referred to me in third person and said, 'I know she'll behave because if she doesn't, she knows we'll be coming in', referring to himself and several other male officers. I was strip searched by four female officers. My search was minor in comparison to that of one woman, who was strip searched by several male officers and had a finger put inside her.

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/alex/2010/07/woman-shot-g20-police-speaks-out

[TheKentuckian]

20. There is no compromise to cobble out here. This is an abomination

[RoseMead]

21. Is this one of the things I'm supposed to keep quiet about

for the sake of party unity? :shrug:

[NNN0LHI]

22. That is the exact same threat that was used near here to get a man named Kevin Fox to confess to...

...raping and murdering his daughter that DNA later proved he didn't commit.

http://www.truthinjustice.org/kevin-fox.htm

DNA clears dad in girl's slaying

Father jailed 8 months in 3-year-old's death

Chicago Tribune By Deborah Horan, Jo Napolitano and John Biemer

June 18, 2005

Read Kevin's Statement to the Public

After nearly eight months in jail, a Will County man who police said had confessed on videotape to the June 2004 murder and sexual assault of his 3-year-old daughter was set free Friday, after DNA tests failed to link him to the crime.

Kevin Fox walked out of jail and into a knot of cheering, sobbing relatives and friends after a brief court hearing at which prosecutors said they no longer had enough evidence to hold Fox for the slaying of his daughter, Riley.

The DNA testing of evidence resulted in an "absolute exclusion of Kevin Fox as a donor," State's Atty. James Glasgow told the judge.

[Ignis]

24. K&R

Not in my name.

[BolivarianHero]

25. Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, and Stephen Harper all deserve to suffer whatever Khadr's suffered.

They were all Prime Minister and de facto head of the federal executive in the period during which a brainwashed child soldier was allowed to be imprisoned without trial for so long. This wish is genuine and I will feel no remorse if it were to ever happen. This is why Canadians who admit to being Fiberals should be treated the way Freepers are. I wonder how stuck-up Liberal left-bashers would feel if Justin Trudeau or Stephane Dion were tried in a place like Saudi Arabia or North Korea and treated this way?

[Odin2005]

26. Obama is just another war criminal, like every president since WW2.

Gitmo was intentionally designed as a giant torture chamber. And this shit is still going on in places like Bagram AFB under Obama's watch.

So Obama is a war criminal.

[GSLevel9]

27. Du needs an emoticon...

a faceplant shaking head to and fro...

[Bluebear]

28. Nice hope. Nice change.

[FedUpWithIt All]

29. Kicking for the evening. n't

[Bluebear]

30. again

[FedUpWithIt All]

33. Problem? n/t

[Bluebear]

37. Why on earth would you say problem?

I was kicking it for you....AGAIN :)

[FedUpWithIt All]

43. Good thing i asked.

:hi:

And thank you.

[Vinnie From Indy]

31. What a beautiful picture !

Very nice! It made me smile.

Cheers!

[FedUpWithIt All]

34. Thank you.

My kids were messing with the camera and i loved this one.

[Robeson]

32. Land of the free, home of the brave.

[Wilms]

36. .

[TheKentuckian]

38. Bump for the eyes of the willfully blind

[Hell Hath No Fury]

41. Honestly?

I think that many of them have most of us on ignore and do not even see threads such as this. :shrug:

[TheKentuckian]

42. They see. As you notice they swarm in when they think they can spin and deflect

[closeupready]

39. The 24-ization of American society.

:(

[anarch]

40. I can only assume this goes for US citizens as well?

"Tell us who sold you the weed, boy, or we'll gang rape you to death!"