A military judge in Guantanamo Bay has thrown out the U.S. government's evidence against an Afghan detainee because it was obtained under coercion, a rights group said yesterday. The decision came late Wednesday in a preliminary hearing in the trial of Mohammed Jawad, arrested in Kabul in 2002 on charges of throwing a grenade that wounded two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter.
A representative for the American Civil Liberties Union revealed that Mr. Jawad's confession had been rejected as evidence in the case. "Col. Stephen Henley held that evidence collected while Jawad was in U.S. custody cannot be admitted in his trial" because the evidence was "gathered through coercive interrogations," the ACLU said in a press release.
Lawyers for Omar Khadr, 22, accused of five war crimes charges including the murder of a U.S. serviceman, say the prosecution's evidence against the Canadian-born youth also relies on statements Mr. Khadr says have been coerced. Under the commissions system, a judge can accept "coerced" statements if he thinks they were true anyway, but cannot accept statements obtained under "torture."
Source: Canada
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