Judge blocks more evidence in Hamdan case
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A military judge yesterday penalized U.S. prosecutors by blocking their use of a May 2003 interrogation of the defendant as they finished presenting evidence in the first Guantanamo war-crimes trial.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A military judge yesterday penalized U.S. prosecutors by blocking their use of a May 2003 interrogation of the defendant as they finished presenting evidence in the first Guantanamo war-crimes trial.
Judge Keith Allred, a Navy captain, said that, as a penalty for not giving Salim Hamdan's defense team potentially important documents until after the trial began, the government could not use the statements Hamdan made in the interrogation at Guantanamo.
Allred said he would reconsider the ruling today, when the defense is scheduled to begin presenting its evidence.
But he said he would let prosecutors submit the interrogation only if they could provide "clear and convincing evidence" that the statements were not obtained through coercion.
The judge had already ruled that prosecutors could not use a series of interrogations of Hamdan at the Bagram air base and Panshir, Afghanistan, that he determined were made under coercive conditions. Hamdan, a Yemeni and formerly Osama bin Laden's driver, was captured at a roadblock in Afghanistan in November 2001.
Michael Berrigan, deputy chief defense counsel for the war-crimes tribunals, called yesterday's ruling a welcome response to the government's "inexcusable" delay in giving records to the defense that provide new details about Hamdan's more than six years of confinement at Guantanamo.
"It's gratifying to get this ruling," Berrigan said, "but it doesn't go far enough."
Defense lawyers have been sifting through the prison records for material to support Hamdan's allegations that he was subjected to abuse including sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation and solitary confinement. Such evidence could buttress their assertions that he was coerced into making incriminating statements to authorities.
The 2003 interrogation was conducted at Guantanamo by two al-Qaeda specialists, Ali Soufan of the FBI and Robert McFadden of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. It has been described in court as the most complete summary of evidence against Hamdan.
The judge found that at Bagram, Hamdan was kept in isolation 24 hours a day with his hands and feet restrained, and armed soldiers prompted him to talk by kneeing him in the back. His captors repeatedly tied him up, put a bag over his head, and knocked him to the ground.
Hamdan is charged with conspiracy and aiding terrorism. Authorities say he delivered weapons for al-Qaeda and helped bin Laden evade U.S. retribution for the Sept. 11 attacks. His lawyers say he was a minor employee with no role in terrorism.
