Gov't Pulls Witness in Gitmo Case Against Canadian

[kpete]

Source: New York Times

Gov't Pulls Witness in Gitmo Case Against Canadian

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 7, 2008

Filed at 9:04 p.m. ET

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Military prosecutors have withdrawn a government witness in an upcoming Guantanamo war-crimes trial to conceal evidence of ''abuse and mistreatment'' of the defendant, his Pentagon-appointed lawyer alleged Sunday.

The witness, a U.S. agent whose identity is protected, was scheduled to testify that Canadian-born Omar Khadr -- charged with killing a U.S. soldier -- made a self-incriminating statement during a December 2004 interrogation, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, who represents Khadr.

The defense says the statement was extracted by coercion, an example of the kinds of abuse Khadr has endured since he became a prisoner in 2002.

Military officials did not immediately respond to calls and e-mails for comment.

Prosecutors dropped the witness and the incriminating statement to block any discussion of abuse, the attorney said.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-CB-Guantanamo-Canadian-Detainee.html

[annabanana]

1. So actually.. his testimony is inadmissible

in any legitimate court. Their actions speak louder than his words would have.

dumb fucks

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. This bum should be Canada's problem

dump him at the Gitmo gate, give him taxi fare to get to Antonio Maceo Airport and he can catch a flight to Montreal on Cubana and what Canada does with him is their business.

[babylonsister]

4. This bum? He was 15 years old at the time...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khadr

Omar Ahmed Khadr (عمر أحمد خضر, born September 19, 1986) is the fourth child in the Canadian Khadr family. He was captured by American forces at the age of 15 following a four-hour firefight with militants in the village of Ayub Kheyl, Afghanistan.<1> He has spent six years in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps charged with war crimes and providing support to terrorism after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier.<2>

A Canadian citizen born in Toronto,<3><4> he is the youngest prisoner held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp by the United States and has been frequently referred to as a child soldier.<5><6> The only Western citizen remaining in Guantanamo, Khadr is unique in that Canada has refused to seek extradition or repatriation despite the urgings of Amnesty International, UNICEF, the Canadian Bar Association and other prominent organisations.<7><8><9><10>

Khadr is the only Guantanamo detainee who has faced a judge and who is not boycotting the military tribunals.<11> In February 2008, the Pentagon accidentally released documents that revealed that although Khadr was present during the firefight, there was no other evidence that he had thrown the grenade. In fact, military officials had originally reported that another of the surviving militants had thrown the grenade just before being killed.<12>

[irislake]

5. A child soldier

should never have been in Guantanamo to begin with. Sheesh!

[babylonsister]

3. They know they are probably in trouble and being watched very closely. Good. nt

[struggle4progress]

6. Secret prisons. Secret trials. Secret witnesses. Torture. Lies.

It's disgusting

[bean fidhleir]

7. "It is a typically Hohenzollern idea that it is a crime for a country to defend itself

after its army has been destroyed"

I don't usually quote Marx, but that observation is just too accurate to ignore. We wear the jackboots of empire and kill or prosecute those who resist our will, as though our every act were an expression of divinity.

[Solly Mack]

8. K&R