Of the many examples of the Bush administration’s abusive and incompetent detainee policies, one of the most baffling is the case of Mohammed Jawad. Mr. Jawad, an Afghan, was no older than 17 and likely even younger when he was captured in 2002 and thrown into indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Seven years, one suicide attempt and untold hours of physical and mental torture later, he remains there, a wrecked young man held on an allegation that he hurled a grenade at two American servicemen and their interpreter — without any credible evidence that he actually did or that he is a grave threat to American security.
In a belated victory for justice, a federal judge recognized that tragic fact last week and ordered the government to release Mr. Jawad.
Judge Ellen Huvelle of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia was rightly offended by the government’s repeated attempts to delay the proceeding and the flimsiness of its case. Her ruling, granting Mr. Jawad’s petition for habeas corpus, seeks to end a legal and human travesty perpetrated by the Bush team but, sadly, still being furthered under President Obama. ...
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