Military lawyer says Defense Department ignored calls for war crimes investigation | Raw Story

Military lawyer says Defense Department ignored calls for war crimes investigation | Raw Story

WASHINGTON---The military lawyer that represents an Afghan youth who spent roughly seven years in U.S. custody says the Defense Department has repeatedly ignored his requests for a war crimes investigation into the detainee's treatment.

Air Force Maj. David Frakt, the attorney for former detainee Mohammed Jawad, says over the past 16 months he sent multiple memos to Defense Department and military leaders asking them to account for what a military judge called "abusive conduct and cruel and inhuman treatment” of his client. Jawad, who was arrested when he says he was 12 years old for allegedly tossing a grenade at U.S. military, was moved from cell to cell 112 times during a 14-day period to disrupt his sleep patterns, according to military documents. Frakt said he believes the treatment constituted torture, violated the Geneva Convention, war crime laws and Defense Department regulations.

"Why has no one--no one has been held remotely accountable for this," Frakt said in an interview with Raw Story. "This is a mandatory investigation. It's not optional, you can't just sweep it under the rug...but they did as far as I can tell."

As first reported in The Washington Independent, Frakt wrote in memos to Defense Department officials: “Accordingly, I believe I have an affirmative obligation to report the incident to my chain of command,” listing military rules that mandate reporting possible war crimes to a superior.

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Frakt wrote his first memo on May 29, 2008, and sent it to the chief defense counsel at the Office of Military Commissions. After four months passed without a response, Frakt sent a similar memo via e-mail to the Commander in charge at the U.S. Southern Command post, Joint Task Force for Guantanamo Bay on October 7, 2008. He also copied four lawyers in the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel on the e-mail.

In January 2009, Frakt again e-mailed the commander in charge at the U.S. Southern Command post, Joint Task Force for Guantanamo Bay, added a captain's name to the list and included the same four lawyers from the Pentagon's Office of General Counsel on the email. ...