Judge Ignores Justice Dept. and Orders Hearing

[lame54]

http://cbs5.com/national/CIA.tapes.hearing.2.613415.html
Judge Orders Hearing On CIA Interrogation Tapes
WASHINGTON (CBS) ― A federal judge has ordered a hearing on whether the Bush administration violated a court order by destroying CIA interrogation videos of two Al Qaeda suspects.

U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy rejected calls from the Justice Department to stay out of the matter. He ordered lawyers to appear before him Friday morning.

In June 2005, Kennedy ordered the administration to safeguard "all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees now at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay."

Five months later, the CIA destroyed the interrogation videos. The recordings involved suspected terrorists Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The Justice Department argued that the videos weren't covered by the order because the two men were being held in secret CIA prisons overseas, not at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

David Remes, a lawyer who represents Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay, asked for the court hearing. He said the government was obligated to keep the tapes and he wants to be sure other evidence is not being destroyed.

[stewert]

1. Legal Question

Did the June 2005 court order only cover detainees at Gitmo?

I believe the tapes were made at a CIA black site in Thailand, so technically they were not tortured at Gitmo, and that June 2005 court order may not cover anyone who was not at Gitmo.

The judge should have made his order less specific, and made it cover anyone that any US Government employee interrogated.

I am not a lawyer, but I suspect they will get out of ignoring that court order because the judge said anyone at Gitmo.