Judge dismisses charges against Canadian Guantanamo detainee

[sabra]

Source: AP

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - A military judge on Monday dismissed charges against Canadian detainee Omar Khadr, saying the matter is outside the jurisdiction of the military tribunal system.

The stunning ruling by Army Col. Peter Brownback came just minutes into Khadr's arraignment, in which he faced charges he committed murder in violation
of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.

Khadr had been classified as an «enemy combatant» by a military panel years earlier at Guantanamo Bay, but because he was not classified as an «alien unlawful enemy combatant,» Brownback said he had no choice but to throw the case out.


Read more: http://www.pr-inside.com/judge-dismisses-charges-against-canadian-r143592.htm

[babylonsister]

1. That was quick, and stunning. This boy has been at Gitmo for 5 years!

:wow:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1038978

[wakeme2008]

2. The guy was a legal POW

judge was right.

[Kagemusha]

9. If I'm reading all replies on this thread fairly, no, he wasn't.

He was misclassified as a legal POW by a military board. That is, if we believe at face value everything about the fighting for Al Qaeda part.

I've always been curious if the government found that ANYONE fighting for the Taliban was a legal combattant at all, since at the time the US recognized a government in exile for Afghanistan... (Edit: Notwithstanding that this individual Canadian is alleged to have fought specifically for Al Qaeda and no other force. I just mean, if he had fought for the Taliban, would it have improved his situation? I wonder, that's all)

[coalition_unwilling]

10. The guy was a concentration camp inmate, denied protections

of the Geneva Conventions that cover POWs.

Guantanamo is a concentration camp.

[Exiled in America]

14. Calling it a concentration camp is a bit hyperbolic.

[damntexdem]

16. Oh, is truth hyperbolic?

Is it like calling waterboarding 'torture" -- true, but 'hyperbolic'?

All I can say is: thank God for hyperbolas!

[tblue]

18. No, it's not hyperbolic. It's an understatement.

G'mo is a concentration camp, and I think we should start calling it that.

[Exiled in America]

25. Be careful.

Most people, when hearing the word "concentration camp" assume Nazi concentration camp by default. So much so that the word has almost become synonymous with that.

That comparison (though it might not be what you had intended) is fucking ridiculous.

I'm sorry, but we have got to get past the notion that just because we oppose something we should immediately equate it to the annihilation of six million jews, or places where human beings were burned alive to be exterminated.

I strongly oppose prison abuses in the United States. There are mountains of documents about the awful treatment of prisoners right in the continental US and I'm very concerned about it.

But just because it is an extremely serious issue and abhorrant situation does not mean its OK for me to say the prison systems are concentration camps in an obvious reference to Nazi concentration camps. Doing that totally trivializes that historic reality.

Just because something is not the same, doesn't mean one becomes unimportant.

Gitmo is absolutely NOT the same as historic nazi concentration camps.

Were there other prison camps that you could be refering to as "concentration" camps in history apart from the Nazi ones? Yes, but almost everyone when hearing the phrase "concentration camp" will assume that you mean nazi concentration camp. And that comparison is ludicrous.

[tblue]

37. The Nazis had labor camps and death camps. I know exactly what the Nazis did.

I didn't call Gitmo a labor camp or a death camp. You don't like the use of the word 'concentration'? Okay fine, say it's "fucking ridiculous." Call it a torture camp, I don't care. But I don't really need a lecture here. My husband and my child are Jewish. All their relatives who lived in Europe died in WWII. My father fought in that war in Germany and in England. I am very, VERY well read on this subject.

Maybe if we stop treating Gitmo like it's part of some constitutional or even moral judicial system and call it the hell hole that it is, more people would join us in wanting to shut it down. I call it a concentration camp because what else is it? It's not your everyday prison or detention center, and it does 'concentrate' certain factions of a population in one place against their will.

Is Gitmo a labor camp or a death camp? I don't think so, but then I don't really know because, like the Nazi camps, it's not exactly open to the public or the free media or any independent scrutinizing agency, and almost no one there even has legal representation. We do know that, as in the Nazi camps, prisoners are tortured in Gitmo and kept indefinitely without charges. To me, that is an abomination and I don't see any reason to pussyfoot around about it. In my mind, it is a concentration camp, and I don't think I'm trivializing anything, thank you very much.

[otherlander]

20. Not really.

If we called it a death camp, that would be hyperbolic.

[maddezmom]

3. Wow

:kick:

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Judge: "this isn't the president making up the rules"

Brownback said he was bound to strictly follow the new rules as Congress wrote them.

"This isn't what people complained about before, this isn't the president making up the rules," Brownback said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04481007.htm

[maddezmom]

5. Brownback dismissed the charges, but left open the possibility that charges could be re-filed if

He dismissed the charges, but left open the possibility that charges could be re-filed if Khadr went back before a review board and was formally classified as an "unlawful enemy combatant."

Khadr, who was captured in a firefight in Afghanistan at age 15, was accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a grenade and wounding another in a battle at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002.

He was also charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism along murder, attempted murder and spying, for allegedly conducting surveillance of U.S. military convoys in Afghanistan.

Khadr sported a tan prison uniform and a shaggy beard during the brief hearing.

One of the prosecutors, Army Capt. Keith Petty, said Khadr clearly met the definition of an "unlawful" combatant because he fought for al Qaeda, which was not part of the regular, uniformed armed forces of any nation.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04481007.htm

[alkaline9]

6. So, what happens now? free to go? back to guantanamo? nt

[Kagemusha]

7. He goes back to guantanamo to be re-classified

and then once they classify him as what the prosecutors say he is - an unlawful combattant fighting for Al Qaeda not Afghanistan - they'll charge him again.

Less momentuous than it seems at first glance.

[alkaline9]

8. I don't know why I got my hopes up ...nt

[cgrindley]

11. CONTESTANT: What is double jeopardy?

ALEX: I'm sorry, but we've consulted with the judges, and that's not a correct question as the defendant doesn't have any constitutional rights. The correct question was: What is utterly boned? We would also have accepted: Who is screwed?

[Recursion]

12. Even with Constitutional protections it does not attach at the arraignment

Even if he had full Constitutional protections he had no constructive jeopardy attached at this point.

[cgrindley]

15. In a civilized country 5 years to be arraigned would be umm...

ah screw it. No one apparently cares enough to actually do anything useful about it.

PS only one Dem said that they'd instantly close down Guantanamo in last night's debate. only one. what a shame.

[maddezmom]

13. Judge's ruling may halt all Guantanamo trials

~snip~

The judge said a military review board had labeled Khadr an "enemy combatant" during a 2004 hearing in Guantanamo. But the Military Commissions Act adopted by the U.S. Congress in 2006 said only "unlawful enemy combatants" could be tried in the Guantanamo tribunals.

Brownback said Khadr did not meet that strict definition because there had been no formal proceeding designating him as unlawful.

Because none of the 380 foreign captives held at Guantanamo have been designated in that way, lawyers said they could not be tried unless they first faced proceedings reclassifying them as unlawful enemy combatants.

Brownback dismissed the charges against Khadr, but left open the possibility that charges could be re-filed if Khadr went back before a review board and was formally reclassified.

This was the latest setback for the Bush government's efforts to put the Guantanamo detainees through some form of judicial process. It was forced to rewrite the rules last year after the U.S. Supreme Court deemed the old tribunals illegal.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04481007.htm

[Kagemusha]

23. Hmm, okay, this is a bigger deal than I thought...

So it's been the admin's legal position they are illegal combattants, but the hearings never actually desnated them that way per se. Hmm. Ok.

[jazzjunkysue]

24. As long as it sets them back until Hilary is pres, that's fine with Bushco.

That's exactly the kind of setback they want: Just stall and minimize and apologize and rationalize into the next administration.

None of it matters to them. They want to stay in Iraq just to get the pipelines secured by Mobil and BP and Shell and get the oil flowing.

I'm sure they're counting on the next admin being reluctant to pull the plug, because it would raise prices at that point.

And hilary sure is starting to catch on. Last night, she was all...."We're safer, but not safe enough....."


Someone installed the GOP animoatronics in her a couple of years ago when she was in for a "facelift".......

[GliderGuider]

17. In a civilized country...

... the Canadian government would be moving heaven and earth to get this guy out of Guantanamo.
The British and Australians got their citizens out. Where the hell are we?
Regardless of how anyone feels about his family, he was still a child at the time of his capture and our gov't MUST take care of him.

And if you're looking for a primer on How To Make A Terrorist, this boy's story is it.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

19. I'm not too suprised,

The last thing the US Military wants to do is themselves set a precedent that criminalizes fairly traditional battlefield combat.

To say nothing of the fact the US Military wants nothing to do with this system they have been charged with running.

[libodem]

21. What?!

They couldn't pull out his fingernails enough times to make him sign a 'guilty' confession. Hmmm, bet he signed the papers saying he can't talk to any reporters or they will hunt him down and put him back in jail. I bet all these get out of Gitmo free cards are really pissing Rush Limbaugh off. He was making money with the really Hilarius Gitmo detainee T-shirts. Yep, what could be funnier than keeping innocent men in isolation for 5 years except taking them out to torture them and piss on the Koran, once in a while.:sarcasm:

[Auntie Bush]

22. So if he's an example of the worst of the worst as bush* says.......

I wonder what the rest are like. No wonder bush eliminated habis corpus!

[Purveyor]

26. Guantanamo Charges Dropped Against bin Laden's Ex-Driver

Source: AFP

A US military judge here Monday threw out terrorism charges against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's ex-driver, arguing he lacked legal jurisdiction.

Navy Captain Keith Allred, echoing another judge's decision earlier in the day in a separate Guantanamo case, said the US government had failed to show that Hamdan met the legal definition of an "unlawful enemy combatant."

"Therefore the defense motion to dismiss (the charges) is upheld," he said at a military commission hearing at this US naval base on the southeastern tip of Cuba.

---
His ruling sided with that of another judge earlier in the day, Colonel Peter Brownback, who dismissed murder and other charges against Omar Ahmed Khadr, 20, a Canadian-born foot-soldier for Al-Qaeda.



Read more: http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=179636

[Spazito]

27. Wow, I have to say both judges' decisions took me by

surprise. I certainly think the decisions were wise, it will be very interesting to see what happens next re these detainees.

[Purveyor]

29. When I first spotted the headline, I thought it would be the same Judge but no.

Will be interesting to see the White House response.

[Spazito]

32. Seeing as this Judge stated, along the same lines as the other judge earlier today,

the prosecution had failed to show a "preponderance of evidence" that Hamdan's official designation as an "enemy combatant" also made him an "unlawful" extremist, as required by a 2006 act of Congress, the changes the bush admin insisted on actually screwed things up even more, why does that NOT surprise me, lol.

[Demeter]

28. Two Rulings In One Day!

This must by why Jefferson's indictment came down today, and Condi did her usual laying down cover for the CinC.

[MethuenProgressive]

30. This is why Bush doesn't want Gitmo detainees to have trials.

Over half of the original inmates (and that's what they really were) have been released.
That means there's lots of room for Bush and his fellow war criminals.

[Xipe Totec]

31. Checkmate nt

[Eugene]

33. Guantanamo war crimes trials screech to halt (Reuters)

Source: Reuters

Guantanamo war crimes trials screech to halt
Mon Jun 4, 2007 9:29PM EDT

By Jane Sutton

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - U.S. military
judges dropped all war crimes charges on Monday against the only two
Guantanamo captives facing trial, rulings that could preclude trying
any of the 380 prisoners held at the U.S. base in Cuba any time soon.

The judges said they lacked jurisdiction under the strict definition of
those eligible for trial by military tribunal under a law the U.S.
Congress enacted last year.

"It's another demonstration that the system simply doesn't work," said
the tribunals' chief defense counsel, Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan.

The rulings did not affect U.S. authority to indefinitely hold the 380
foreign terrorism suspects detained at the Guantanamo Bay naval base
in southeast Cuba.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0448039020070605

[Warren Stupidity]

34. This poor slob drove a fucking car. He was a chauffeur.

The fact that he was detained for six years and was getting set up for execution as a terrorist was ridiculous.

[mvd]

35. Now another one of their stupid arguments for the..

Iraq war goes completely down the drain.

[maddezmom]

36. Judges at Guantanamo throw out 2 cases

Judges at Guantanamo throw out 2 cases By ANDREW O. SELSKY, Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago



GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Military judges dismissed charges Monday against a Guantanamo detainee accused of chauffeuring Osama bin Laden and another who allegedly killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, throwing up roadblocks to the Bush administration's attempt to try terror suspects in military courts.

In back-to-back arraignments for Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen and Canadian Omar Khadr the U.S. military's cases against the alleged al-Qaida figures dissolved because, the two judges said, the government had failed to establish jurisdiction.

They were the only two of the roughly 380 prisoners at Guantanamo charged with crimes, and the rulings stand to complicate efforts by the United States to try other suspected al-Qaida and Taliban figures in military courts.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070605/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_trials;_ylt=AkstTEHtJG9UaHLrdj2mQX2s0NUE