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Terror Networks & Islam
US allows use of evidence gained by torture
2004-12-04
Evidence gained by torture can be used by the US military review panels deciding the fate of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the US Government has conceded. Lawyers acting for Australian detainees in Cuba have called on the Australian Government to renounce the practice. About 70 years ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled evidence gained through torture was inadmissible. Deputy associate Attorney-General, Brian Boyle, has told the District Court in Washington DC, that the Guantanamo review panels are allowing such evidence. Michael Ratner, a human right lawyer with the Centre for Constitutional Rights, says he was shocked with the Bush administration's admission. "Never in my 30 years of being a human rights lawyer would I ever expected to be in the state that we've arrived at," he said.

Mr Ratner says the Howard Government must condemn torture and the use of evidence produced from it. Two Australians, Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks, are being held at Guantanamo Bay. The US military lawyer appointed to defend Hicks, says the Australian Government should do more to ensure his client gets a fair trial. He says Mr Hicks will not get a fair trial before the Commission and the Australian Government is not doing anything about it. He says there must be rules of evidence. "This Military Commission system is designed to allow evidence that could have been obtained under torture to be used as evidence against people," he said. "Rules of evidence and procedures have been designed to keep uncredible evidence out and credible evidence in". Maj Mori says Australia should protest against the Commission process like Britain has and hold an inquiry into its legal standards. Major Michael Mori is in Melbourne for a seminar on legal tactics.
Posted by:God Save The World

#4  Other things frowned upon by the chain of command, via AE Brain. Personal favorite:
203. “To conquer the earth with an army of flying monkeys" is a bad long term goal to give the re-enlistment NCO.
Posted by: mojo   2004-12-04 10:21:57 PM  

#3  No CS it doesn't know it because most of the world doesn't know what torture even is. The average person just gulps down the crap these LLL orgs and the media spew out. The average person never even looks into what they are calling torture. If they did most of this crap would go away.
Posted by: FlameBait   2004-12-04 5:54:20 PM  

#2  First off, I don;t think these individuals have any legal status under U.S. law. And under the geneva convention we are allowed to interrogate prisoners. The Human Rights Watch declared most (if not all) of our iterrorgation methods to be forms of torture. This is a crock and most of the world knows it.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2004-12-04 10:30:00 AM  

#1  I've not looked at any of these guidelines, but I’ll bet there is a two level analysis going on.

1. Evidence gained through torture would be admissible before a tribunal determining whether a detainee is an “enemy combatant” who should be held at least until the end of hostilities; and
2. In any trial on the merits of criminal charges (none of which have been brought against detainees at Guantanamo Bay, yet, if I’m correct) such evidence would be suppressed.

We’re still at the stage that is equivalent to a bail hearing, where all kinds of questionable evidence can be relied upon, and where the tribunal has incredible discretion.
Posted by: cingold   2004-12-04 12:31:32 AM  

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