I'd like the president to explain why HE's still holding this boy prisoner

[bigtree]

Afghan was taken to Guantanamo aged 12: rights group

Reuters
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

An Afghan who has spent over six years at the U.S. military's Guantanamo Bay prison was only around 12-years-old when he was detained, not 16 or 17 as his official record says, an Afghan rights group said on Tuesday.

Interviews with the family of Mohammed Jawad, who like many poor Afghans does not know his exact age or birthday, showed he was probably not even a teenager when he was arrested in 2002, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said.

He was picked up by Afghan police in connection with a grenade attack in Kabul in which two U.S. soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were wounded. He was transferred to U.S. custody the same day and flown to Guantanamo in early 2003.

Commissioner Nader Nadery said in addition to being a minor at the time of his detention, Jawad was tortured and abused by the Afghan police and while at the Guantanamo detention center, located at a U.S. naval base in Cuba.


read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/26/AR2009052601306_pf.html

[grasswire]

1. who sponsors that diplomacy now site?

I've never seen it before.

[bigtree]

3. heh

It's just a project of mine . . . with an important sounding heading. It's an exercise which helps me stay in touch. I decided to post it here for diplomacy-minded DUers.

[bigtree]

6. updated if you're interested

. . . long weekend

[mmonk]

2. To keep us safe.

Prolonged detention is necessary to prevent crimes he may commit in the future. Do I really need a sarcasm tag for this post?

[bigtree]

4. how long do we have to hold him

. . . until he becomes the cold-blooded, dangerous killer we imagined he was seven years ago?

[mmonk]

7. That must be the plan.

[bvar22]

5. K&R

Thanks.
I think it is important to put names and faces on the "statistics".

"Innocent until proven guilty,"
and
"Fair and Speedy Public Trial" are concepts I STILL believe in.

As a citizen, I have a responsibility to monitor our Judicial System.
Private Tribunals with "secret" evidence are an infringement of MY Constitutions Rights and Responsibilities to hold my government accountable.

[Karenina]

8. . .