Posted on 08/21/2010 6:42:33 PM PDT by Clive
MIAMI - A U.S. military judge has ruled there is no credible evidence that a Canadian prisoner on trial in Guantanamo on murder and terrorism conspiracy charges was tortured into confessing after his capture in Afghanistan.
In a written ruling released by the Pentagon Friday, Army Colonel Patrick Parrish gave his arguments for rejecting a motion by lawyers of Omar Khadr requesting that confessions made by Khadr to U.S. interrogators should not used as evidence in his trial on grounds they were obtained through torture.
A military tribunal trying Khadr opened proceedings last week at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba but was suspended for at least a month on Aug. 13 after his main defense lawyer fell ill and was flown to the United States for treatment.
The lawyers for Toronto-born Khadr, who was captured at age 15 on an Afghan battlefield, claimed his statements were illegally obtained through torture and cruelty — including a story told to him by one interrogator about a young Afghan prisoner being raped by fellow inmates in a U.S. jail.
“There is no evidence that story caused the accused to make any incriminating statements then or in the future,” Parrish wrote in his ruling posted on the U.S. Defense Department website as a PDF file.
“There is no credible evidence the accused was ever tortured ... even using a liberal interpretation considering the accused’s age,” he said. The ruling is dated Aug. 17.
Khadr, now 23, has spent a third of his life in the Guantanamo detention camp and faces five charges that could put him in prison for life. His trial is the first war crimes tribunal anywhere since World War Two to prosecute someone for acts allegedly committed as a juvenile.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnews.canoe.ca ...
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First, why the instruction to read the whole article????
But, that being said, I did read it and it sounds as if the torture of having been exposed as a bomber on videotape led the alleged “15 year old” to admit (confess) that yes, that was indeed he on the tape............
Those sympathetic to Khadr have been calling hin a "child soldier" ever since he was caught. They are wrong. The conventions the conventions set the minimum age at 15 years. He was 15 when he threw the grenade. He was also 15 when he was videotaped assembling IEDs.
Plenty of evidence that all 3,000 victims of 9/11 were tortured.
Yeah well, the real child soldiers are those kidnapped and forced to serve........
Why do we let these scumbags live so that they can inspire others to continue attacking us?
* He never fought in uniform, therefore didn't even qualify as a “soldier” under the Geneva Conventions.
* He wasn't coerced into joining the jahadis.
His whole family are jihadis posing as Canadians.
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