One Utah

Jose Padilla is a native-born American citizen, arrested in the United States, who was designated an “enemy combatant” by the government and held without charges. According to Padilla’s lawyers, he was locked in solitary confinement and “tortured for nearly the entire three years and eight months of his unlawful detention. The torture took myriad forms, each designed to cause pain, anguish, depression and, ultimately, the loss of will to live.”

This week, Newsweek reports that the government has lost a DVD of Padilla being tortured while in military custody at a U.S. Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. An assistant U.S. attorney, Stephanie K. Pell, mentioned it in court late last week and again on Monday. Pell is one of the prosecutors in a criminal case that has since been brought against Padilla and two codefendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Jayyousi, on charges of conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism overseas and other offenses. Pell offered no explanation as to why or how the DVD went missing.

The disclosure that the Pentagon had lost a potentially important piece of evidence in one of the U.S. government’s highest-profile terrorism cases was met with claims of incredulity by some defense lawyers and human-rights groups monitoring the case. “This is the kind of thing you hear when you’re litigating cases in Egypt or Morocco or Karachi,” said John Sifton, a lawyer with Human Rights Watch, one of a number of groups that has criticized the U.S. government’s treatment of Padilla. “It is simply not credible that they would have lost this tape. The administration has shown repeatedly they are more interested in covering up abuses than getting to the bottom of whether people were abused.”

What is to be done? The New York Times has offered a hard-hitting editiorial about what they call the “Must-Do List” for Congress:

Five years of presidential overreaching and Congressional collaboration continue to exact a high toll in human lives, America’s global reputation and the architecture of democracy. Brutality toward prisoners, and the denial of their human rights, have been institutionalized; unlawful spying on Americans continues; and the courts are being closed to legal challenges of these practices.

It will require forceful steps by this Congress to undo the damage. A few lawmakers are offering bills intended to do just that, but they are only a start. Taking on this task is a moral imperative that will show the world the United States can be tough on terrorism without sacrificing its humanity and the rule of law.

This editorial is a must-read. Here’s the list in brief of what Congress must do to bring America back into line with our own fundamental principles:

• Restore Habeas Corpus
• Stop Illegal Spying
• Ban Torture, Really
• Close the C.I.A. Prisons
• Account for ‘Ghost Prisoners’
• Ban Extraordinary Rendition
• Tighten the Definition of Combatant
• Screen Prisoners Fairly and Effectively
• Ban Tainted Evidence
• Ban Secret Evidence
• Better Define ‘Classified’ Evidence
• Respect the Right to Counsel

Finally:

The United States should apologize to a Canadian citizen and a German citizen, both innocent, who were kidnapped and tortured by American agents.

Oh yes, and it is time to close the Guantánamo camp. It is a despicable symbol of the abuses committed by this administration (with Congress’s complicity) in the name of fighting terrorism.

There’s more. Talking Points Memo points out that the prosecution of the first Guantanamo inmate to be charged with a crime, Australian David Hicks, has thoroughly embarrassed our country.

After being held for five years without a trial and being originally charged with conspiracy to commit murder and engage in acts of terrorism, attempted murder and aiding the enemy, Hick was charged with a single count of providing material support for terrorism, which wasn’t outlawed until 2006.

Australians are outraged. Understandably so.

Now Hicks’ trial may be delayed because his American military lawyer, MAJ Michael Mori, is being threatened with prosecution for speaking out publicly against the injustice done to his client.

This entry was posted Sunday, March 4th, 2007 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Crimes, Human Rights, The Constitution, This Blog, Torture. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.