Guantanamo trial delayed amid prisoner's protests

[tpsbmam]

Source: Los Angeles Times

The Bush administration's pursuit of a quick conviction of an alleged terrorist unraveled Wednesday when the young Afghan, accused of lobbing a grenade at two U.S. soldiers, refused to cooperate with what he called an "illegal" tribunal.

Mohammed Jawad, 23, now faces a months-long postponement in his trial because the Army colonel assigned to defend him will be leaving military service in five days.

Jawad had to be dragged from his cell for his initial appearance before the military commission and was wearing the orange prison garb that denotes an unruly detainee when he arrived in court.

He refused to accept any military lawyer to defend him and told the judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, he couldn't explore his right to a civilian attorney unless he was freed and accorded "justice and fairness." He also said he had been tortured while in U.S. custody and listed as 21 years old even though he says he was 16 when he was arrested after the Dec. 17, 2002, attack in Afghanistan.

Jawad's case had been placed ahead of 13 others who have been charged, including six facing the death penalty if convicted of aiding the Sept. 11 hijackers. There are 275 men imprisoned here.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gitmo13mar13,1,3643847.story

[PSPS]

1. Kangaroo Court

These are the trials where BushCo insists there not be any acquittals. "What will the world say if we've held these people for so long and they're not found guilty?" one of the bush cabal uttered.

[saigon68]

2. Its fair to say these Military Wimps are also War Criminals

For going along with this sham

[liberal_rxstudent]

3. It is disguisting...

These people are being held captive (and probably tortured)without due process. What this administration has done to innocents can't be ignored- and for what! To push their agenda further and attempt to make "compelling" discoveries of (gasp) terrorist threats against America! WTF! I loathe what this country is becoming...it is truly embarrassing. SO much injustice...not only at Guantanamo. Now this is becoming all too familiar...look at Sami Al-Arian (if he ever wanted to see the light of day, he HAD to make a plea bargain. I still truly feel that this man was set-up to be a scapegoat for our government's incompetence)..and the current case against the 2 USF students (info now being released about the low grade explosives-i.e. fireworks like the boys claimed possibly??, journalist Sami al-Haj (at Guantanamo). It is as if the justice dept. and all involved in the Bush administration are trying to cover up something big...which I am sure is the case. I added a couple of links that I thought about while reading your post.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/1423019731.html?dids=1423019731:1423019731&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Feb+3%2C+2008&author=MEG+LAUGHLIN&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=1.P&desc=THE+JOURNALIST+HELD+AT+GUANTANAMO%3A+I+KNOW+PRISONER+%23345
http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/AlArian/Overview.html (this is actually from USF's website...why they decided to fire Al-Arian, which in my opinion, generated so much attention and help to ruin this man's reputation)
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/1421816961.html?dids=1421816961:1421816961&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+31%2C+2008&author=JAN+WESNER&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=1.B&desc=LAWYER%3A+FBI+TEST+FINDS+NO+DANGER (and I believe that they just so happened to have been in the wrong place at wrong time- ok, maybe they were racially profiled, and even agreed to having vehicle searched.)

Maybe I'm too gullible for believing that these people are innocent... Maybe it's just b/c I really feel that they got screwed. Whatever it is, this post reminds me of their stories, and the countless others that aren't being told. Thanks for the post. I'm glad to see there are still others out there willing to listen to the people whom this crooked administration deems a threat, when in reality, the biggest threat to us all is our own leaders.

[FlyingSquirrel]

4. There's that word...... "cooperate"

meaning "submit"

[Solly Mack]

5. Those tribunals are a sham and so is the MCA of 2006

that attempted to give legal cover to those sham tribunals

a sham and a shame

[Supersedeas]

6. and the ABA sits on its collective corporate hands