[Ppnews] Judge critical of Guantanamo war crimes case is dismissed

[Political Prisoner News]

Judge critical of Guantanamo war crimes case is
dismissed

         Army Col. Peter Brownback III had threatened to
         suspend proceedings unless prosecutors handed
         over key records to the defense.

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Times - May 31, 2008

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gitmo31-2008may31,0,6244452.story

MIAMI -- A judge hearing a war crimes case at
Guantanamo Bay who publicly expressed frustration with
military prosecutors' refusal to give evidence to the
defense has been dismissed, tribunal officials
confirmed Friday.

Army Col. Peter Brownback III was presiding over the
case of Canadian detainee Omar Khadr. Marine Col. Ralph
Kohlmann, in his role as chief judge at Guantanamo,
ordered the dismissal without explanation and announced
Brownback's replacement in an e-mail this week to
lawyers in Khadr's case.

In another indication of the Pentagon's drive to step
up the pace at Guantanamo, charges were drafted against
three more terrorism suspects, bringing to 17 the
number accused of war crimes.

Charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism were
prepared for Ghassan Abdullah Sharbi, a Saudi with an
engineering degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University; fellow Saudi Jabran Said bin Qahtani; and
Algerian Sufyian Barhoumi. The three are alleged to
have attended Al Qaeda training camps and studied bomb-
making.

Brownback had threatened to suspend the proceedings
against Khadr unless prosecutors handed over Khadr's
medical and interrogation records since his July 2002
capture in Afghanistan.

Khadr's Navy lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler, had
asked for the records months ago, and Brownback had
ordered the government to produce them.

The lead prosecutor in the Khadr case, Marine Maj.
Jeffrey Groharing, this week reiterated to Brownback
his view that the defense wasn't entitled to the
records. He urged the judge to set a trial date.

Brownback said during an April hearing that he had been
"badgered and beaten and bruised by Maj. Groharing" to
set a date but couldn't do so in good conscience when
the prosecution was withholding evidence.

Brownback revealed in a November 2007 session that
Pentagon officials had made clear they "didn't like"
his decision the previous June to dismiss the Khadr
case for lack of jurisdiction.

That ruling was overturned a few weeks later by a
hastily assembled Court of Military Commission Review.

Asked about Brownback's removal, Air Force Capt. Andre
Kok, a tribunal spokesman, said it was "a mutual
decision between Col. Brownback and the Army that he
revert to his retired status when his current active-
duty orders expire in June."

Human rights monitors saw Brownback's dismissal as
indicative of political influence on the tribunal.

"The fact that Judge Brownback has now been taken off
the case, without explanation, creates the appearance
of political meddling and highlights why these
commissions cannot be considered full, fair and
independent," said Jennifer Daskal, senior counter-
terrorism counsel for Human Rights Watch.

"The message of the Pentagon's decision seems to be
that it is unwilling to let judges exercise
independence if it means a ruling against the
government," said Jamil Dakwar, human rights program
director for the American Civil Liberties Union.

While Brownback made several rulings in favor of the
defense, earlier this month he sided with the
prosecution in refusing to classify Khadr as a child
soldier at the time of his alleged offenses.

Kuebler has been lobbying Canadian officials for the
repatriation of Khadr so he can be tried in a forum in
compliance with international accords on the treatment
of child soldiers.

Khadr, now 21, faces up to life in prison if convicted
at Guantanamo on charges of murder, conspiracy and
supporting terrorism. He is accused of lobbing a
grenade that killed U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class
Christopher J. Speer during the firefight in which he
was captured.

In other developments at the military tribunal, lawyers
for confessed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed and four codefendants complained Wednesday
that prosecutors were pushing for a Sept. 15 trial date
to play out the emotionally charged case just ahead of
the November presidential election.

"Three months and 18 days is not enough time to prepare
a defense in this death penalty case, even if the
government had provided the defense with the attorneys,
resources and facilities necessary to do so," Navy Lt.
Cmdr. Brian Mizer said.

The Sept. 11 suspects are to be arraigned June 5 at
Guantanamo, the first time the men, who were held
abroad for years in secret CIA prisons, will be brought
before a judge, journalists and human rights observers.

Their lawyers urged Kohlmann to dismiss the charges
against them because of "unlawful command influence"
exercised by Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann,
the legal advisor to the tribunal convening authority.

Hartmann was disqualified from another war crimes case
this month on the same grounds.

Lawyers for Yemeni prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan
successfully argued that Hartmann had shown a lack of
independence in pressing prosecutors to try "sexy"
cases that would produce quick convictions.

carol.williams at latimes.com




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