[Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle] said last week that the government’s case for continuing to detain the prisoner, Mohammed Jawad, was “riddled with holes” and that the Justice Department had been “dragging this out for no good reason.”
The Justice Department apparently intends to continue "dragging this out," although it now intends to detain Jawad while investigating a possible criminal prosecution. The seven years that have lapsed didn't afford sufficient time to investigate?
The government’s filing on Friday said it had “multiple eyewitness accounts that were not previously available” and other evidence including an account by an witness who “alleges that he saw Jawad throw a grenade that wounded two American service members.”
Seriously? Seven years after the fact, just as the government is about to lose Jawad's habeas challenge to his detention, witnesses have appeared who were "not previously available"? As the Church Lady used to say, "How Conveeeenient"!
This article from The Weekly Standard makes the case that "it's not clear that [Jawad is] innocent" while conceding that it's also not clear that he's guilty. The government admits that it can't use Jawad's coerced statements against him. Does the Justice Department really think it has a case against Jawad, or is it reluctant to give Republicans another opportunity to argue that the Obama administration is soft on terrorism?
Judge Huvelle indicated in a hearing on July 16 that she was considering ordering that Mr. Jawad be returned to Afghanistan. That created a politically awkward situation for the Obama administration, which has faced sharp criticism from Republicans for its plan to close the Guantánamo prison. It potentially meant that the administration would be required to transfer a detainee charged with trying to kill American servicemen.
After conceding that it could no longer detain Jawad at Guantanamo as a military detainee, the government told Judge Huvelle that it intends to detain Jawad at Guantanamo as a criminal suspect.
The filing indicated that the government planned to continue to hold Mr. Jawad at Guantánamo “at an appropriate camp facility,” evidently until a decision on whether to transfer him to the United States for prosecution.
How conveeeenient for the government. Not so much for Jawad. Let's hope Judge Huvelle has none of it.
Judge Huvelle could still issue an order directing that Mr. Jawad be released to Afghanistan. But such an order would encounter many hurdles. Congress recently passed legislation requiring that it receive 15 days’ notice before any such transfer, which could give the administration the time necessary to charge Mr. Jawad in an American court.
Of course, charging Jawad in an American court implies that Jawad would have to stand trial within the nation's borders, giving Republicans (and cowed Democrats) another opportunity to advance the specious claim that a young man like Jawad can't be safely detained anywhere within the United States without jeopardizing the nation's security. This might seem like a "no win" situation to the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, but justice isn't about winning in the court of public perception. It's about doing the right thing. Jawad has been tortured and abused during his seven years of captivity, and it's impossible to believe that his guilt at this late date can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The right thing is to send him home.
