A man arrested in Afghanistan when he was 16 or 17 is facing a life sentence at the hands of a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay.  Two days ago, one of the prosecutors in the case resigned, saying his superiors were withholding evidence that could prove the man's innocence.  If granted immunity, the prosecutor has agreed to testify for the defense. 

I became aware of this troubling case just today, and I think it exemplifies a lot of what's wrong with both our military tribunals and our system of "intelligence gathering," in which most of those detained have been innocent. 

The defendant, Mohammed Jawad, is one of only two minors in modern history to face war crimes charges.  Under international law, child soldiers are considered victims rather than criminals. (The other minor, Omar Khadr, will face trial before a military tribunal in October.  He became known to the US public in July, when his lawyers released a ten-minute video showing his interrogation by Canadian intelligence officials at Guantanamo Bay in 2003.)  

Jawad is also the only person facing a military tribunal who has not been charged with terrorism, material support for terrorism, or conspiracy.  He is charged with throwing a grenade at US troops in Kabul in 2002, wounding three people, none of whose injuries were life-threatening.  And he is the only person charged under the Military Commissions Act who is not alleged to have any affilition with al Qaeda or the Taliban. 

The evidence against him is scant at best.  Two other men have also confessed to throwing the grenade, and the case against Jawad is based on a “confession” he signed while being detained by Afghan authorities, who threatened him, beat him, hooded him, and threw him down the stairs. The confession was not even written by Jawad, who is functionally illiterate, and is not in his native language of Pashto.  It bears only his thumbprint. 

In the words of the defense attorney, Jawad was subjected to ''pointless and sadistic treatment'' in U.S. custody.  The prosecutor who resigned, Darrel Vandeveld, also said he was troubled by Jawad's treatment in US custody and said he had turned over to the defense documents suggesting that Jawad was subjected to Guantánamo's "Frequent Flyer" sleep deprivation program.  Mohammed Jawad has spent 69 months in custody, more than a quarter of his life, and has been held in isolation for prolonged periods.  In 2003 he attempted suicide.  

Vandeveld, meanwhile, is the seventh prosecutor since 2004 to resign from the military tribunals, citing ethical concerns.

 See the following sites for more information:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/701962.html http://mostlywater.org/letters_mohamad_jawad http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hotline/2008/05/mohammed-jawad-is-another-teen-growing.php
?http://cbs2.com/national/Guantanamo.Bay.prosecutor.2.824891.html
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/091/2008/en/d47d414f-693e-11dd-8e5e-43ea85d15a69/amr510912008eng.pdf
http://blog.aclu.org/2008/06/23/unlawful-command-influence/