Analysis of Al Qahtani versus Osama Habeas Corpus Petition - Case Study Example

Al Qahtani v. Osama This is a habeas corpus petition which has been filed on behalf of one Mr.Mohammed al Qahtani, who is the petitioner, and is a Saudi citizen detained in Guantánamo since the early 2000s. He was a victim of the First Pentagon’s Special Interrogation Plan era, where inhuman techniques of interrogating were employed, which amounted to torture that was authorized by the former Secretary of Defense. Mr. al Qahtani is the only Guantanamo’s detainee, who the administration has admitted to having been tortured. Facts of the case On December 15, 2001, one Mr.Mohammed al Qahtani, who was a Saudi citizen was arrested and detained by the authorities on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, shortly thereafter the transferred to the U.S. forces custody on December 26, 2001.He was later or transferred to Cuba-Quantánamo,where al Qahtani was subjected to the aggressive techniques of interrogation which was approved under consent of the former defense Secretary . Al Qahtani was sequestered in a cell with continuous, very bright lightings. In 2002, Military personnel at Guantánamo started a new and more brutal interrogation era for the petitioner. The intelligence personnel were to apply the training method, program, termed as “SERE”. This program was intended to teach soldiers on how to resist the methods of torture employed to them by the enemies. But in Guantanamo, the situation was different because the intelligence was to apply the training techniques on al Qahtani. The torture techniques used involved torture elements like water boarding plus sexual and religious humiliation. It has been shown that for the officers involved in this new interrogation program, had been made to attend what is known as SERE training at Fort Bragg. The dates they undertook the training are also on record as having commenced on September 16 and proceeding up to 20th, September 2006. After this details came to light, Criminal Investigation Task Force leaders September 2002 issued written orders barring their operatives from using the SERE techniques for interrogation. It was also shown that on October 2002, interrogators used military dogs to intimidate al Qahtani during interrogation. It was also on record that the FBI Deputy Assistant Director T.J. Harrington made a report saying that in November 2002 he had observed a detainee exhibiting symptoms of what he termed as “extreme psychological trauma.” It was later shown that the detainee was in fact identified as being Mr. al Qahtani during his detention. It is not on record anywhere showing that Al Qahtani was ever given a break from interrogation or isolation during this period despite his traumatizing experience. Instead he was subjected to even more torture only this time of a different variation. He was interrogated for a further six weeks in which time he was also tortured as well and there is an 84 page Notwithstanding the trauma, the petitioner was not given a break from the seclusion or from the interrogations, neither was he treatment the symptoms which showed very solemn trauma , in November 2002.but instead, he was to be put through another interrogation plan herein referred to as the “First Special Interrogation Plan” from about November 23, 2002 to January 11, 2003. This evidence is expounded in al Qahtani’s interrogation log. It is an 84-page log that describes the interrogations during a period of six weeks, among them how the military intelligence interrogators subjected al Qahtani to physical and psychological torture. He has already been at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002 and is still eliciting a lot of debate within the legal and human rights circles when in 2008 his charges got dropped there came the revelation that the reason this had happened was because he had been subjected to torture during the course of his interrogations in Guantanamo bay. Public records indicate that he was subjected to abusive and questionable techniques during his interrogation. He was put in isolation, leashed like a dog humiliated in a sexual manner, forced to obey dog commands, forced to urinate on him, and forced to dance with an interrogator who was male and even exposed to extreme temperatures. His lawyers argue that he can not and should not be prosecuted because of the way he was treated in the course of his interrogation. His interrogators argue that information he gave was accurate as it is corroborated by other sources. There was an inquiry carried out by the pentagon in 2005 which found the methods used to interrogate him to be dehumanizing and degrading. The pentagon however in a statement said that the techniques used were allowed at the time but not any more. At the same time, the United States is a member of the international community and as such international law prohibits the use of torture. The petition is being brought forward by a non citizen and the case will have a big precedence on how the United States handles such instances involving foreign nationals in the courts. At the same time the use of torture which is already documented will have a big bearing on the decision of the court and in view of the special circumstances involved. The court will have to decide if the special circumstances that led to the arrest and incarceration of al Qahtani warrant the methods used to interrogate him and if not can the evidence obtained by interrogation be used in court. It is also important to note that al Qahtani throughout has been consistent in his denial that he took up arms against the united states at any one time. The government however on its part accuses him of having come to in to the country with the express intention of taking part in the September 11 attacks and also of being a member of the al Qaeda terror group. His first statement was presented at the 2007 annual review board held at Guantanamo and he postulated that all the accusations leveled against him by the government emanated from torture sessions. There are some basic principles of the constitution and they are six in total which includes judicial review which is relevant to this case. From this principles, it is evident that despite al Qahtani not being a us citizen, he was not granted his basic rights as enshrined in the constitution and this is a vital point he is arguing in his defense. He will also be relying on one of the 6 basic principles to get himself freed of the charges whether on a technicality or otherwise when he presents his petition to the Supreme Court. This is the principal of judicial review which has made it possible for his case to go all the way up to the Supreme Court. The role of the judicial review has always been to review the actions of the government and determine if the actions are constitutionally acceptable or not in this case he will be hopping for the review to come out in his favor. He will be hoping that the torture claims that have been shown to have taken place will be enough of a factor to ensure that he is freed or at least that the evidence against him will be ruled to be inadmissible especially in the case of the testimonies that were got from him under torture in interrogation during detention. Human rights lawyers who have seen the tapes of the torture sessions that he went through have provided an insight into the interrogation of Mr. al Qahtani. They describe them as stomach turning and abhorrent. The human rights layers describe al Qahtani as a broken man who will never recover the emotional and psychological scars inflicted in Guantanamo during the torture sessions. This is bound to be used to add weight to the plaintiff’s case and the court will have to consider what the impact on al Qahtani’s psychological health was before deciding. The sticking point is the fact that he was tortured and he broke down giving a lot of detailed information about his co conspirators. The information was corroborated to be accurate in effect meaning he was actually involved in the crimes he is accused of. According to the government, he gave details that were true and only could have come from someone involved in the plot. So the court will have to weigh the importance of delivering justice to a possible terrorist who may have taken part in the September 11 attacks and protecting individual human rights against violations by the government. According to amnesty international, the dismissal of al Qahtani’s charges has led to his being taken back to indefinite detention. He has been held for more than a decade and this coupled with the torture and ill treatment is enough cause for worry about his mental and physical health. His lawyer released a statement that there was even a time when he attempted to commit suicide but prompt treatment at the Guantanamo hospital saved him. This is a sign of deteriorating mental health and amnesty international was quick to point out the ease with which his conditions could be harming his mental health as he despairs due to the torture and uncertainty surrounding his life. There has been evidence that the government has been actively seeking to limit the legal rights and protections of foreign nationals in us custody. The actions against al Qahtani were sanctioned from senior government authorities and documents to prove this are available. They also seek to protect the agents and others who are involved in the torture of detainees. There is even a memorandum that tries to argue that the sovereign right of the way the United States treats the enemy combatant’s remains the prerogative of the commander in chief to do with as he deems fit. As a result, then the memorandum argues that the general criminal law should be taken as not applying in any way to interrogators. This is because they do the interrogations under the authority of the commander in chief. They proceed to argue that the congress efforts to limit and regulate the interrogations of those they designate enemy combatants is to be taken as being unconstitutional in nature. Again the al-Qaida or Taliban detainees do not fall under the Geneva Convention protections because the interrogations do not occur within the territory of the United States. This has been exploited by the government to carry out torture in the Guantanamo detention facility (Woodward, B). The Supreme Court will have to rule on the legality of this and the pertinent issues that arise from this and al Qahtani’s torture. Issues Whether the severe seclusion of al Qahtani amounted to an infrinchment of his right Whether the SERE training program used on al Qahtani amounted to torture, and whether the evidence obtained thereafter was admissible Whether prohibition from long prayers during Ramadan amounted to denial of the right to practice religion Whether al Qahtani was entitled to a writ of habeas corpus Statement of Decision Yes al Qahtani’s seclusion and being put in a room where there were bright lights for long hours amounted to an infrinchment of his human right, this is provided for under the Chapter 15 of the UN Convention against torture, and the SERE training program used to obtain information so as to adduce evidence from al Qahtani was inhuman and amounted to torture as we shall see. The Constitution of the USA just like many nations provides for the right of freedom of religion, depriving that from al Qahtani was going against what the constitution stands for. Also, Al Qahtani is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus (Woodward, B). The petition should be allowed and if evidence of obtaining evidence through torture is imminent, Mr. Al Qahtani should be released forthwith. Article 6 of the constitution provides for an expedient, quick and fair trial, the sleep deprivation coupled with interrogations for 20-hours in a day the went on for months and strict confinement and sequestatation for some months until November 2002, The injustices of inhuman treatment of al Qahtani, together with the former secretary of defense allowing them to put in to use such cruel techniques so as to acquire the information necessary to adduce a concrete evidence, has been under scrutiny and investigation about the abuse reports and a very wide and long memorandum made by Alberto J Mora, who is a former General counsel of the Navy, he had warned using such extreme techniques would make the government officials vulnerable to war crimes cases. The government of the US, accused al Qahtani that he is an Al Qaeda sympathizer and that he purposed to enter the States and participate in the 9/ 11 attacks; in response to these allegations,al Qahtani has strongly and consistently denied that he has never participated in taking up arms against the United States, or any knowledge about the where about leave alone being a member of the outlawed worldwide Taliban and Al Qaeda.His first publicly announcement, to the 2007 Annual Review Board at Guantanamo, that all the statements by the government that he had said or admitted to having participated in, were obtained through torture, among the brutal means of acquiring such confessions were threats of causing harm to his family back at home unless he confessed. Since their is an increased reliance on the military intelligence for combating terrorism, many nations have really given the military a lot of authority that they forget to supervise it, due to this overwhelming authority in the hands of the military in regard to terrorism, a lot of injustices are being done to suspects of war crimes without the due process being followed in order to make sure that the rights suspects of terror are not abused. Had al Qahtani been given a fair hearing and speedy and fair trial, the military would not have had the opportunity to abuse its powers and tarnish the name of the country for inhuman injustices against the war crimes suspects. Another impediment to acquiring justice for the wars criminals are that there normally there is the use of anonymous witnesses who cannot be cross-examined; this fact not only does deny justice to the war crimes suspects, but to the victims as well. It is an established fact some states also go ahead admit such evidence acquired through inhuman means such as torture to get confessions which are obtained through coercion, undue influence and psychological pleasure, even some have taken the suspects of war back to countries where human rights are not respected. In some Nations and places, such vices as the use of physical and mental pain infliction and secret and incommunicado are used and nobody questions the act, because the military in such countries is so mandated to do such heinous activities with little or question at all from anybody (MacAskill et al). Article 15 of the convention against torture provides that no evidence or information obtained through torture or such related means is absolutely prohibited, the article is to the effect that no such acquired evidence can be used whether home or abroad. The court of Human Rights of European, refused to deport to Jordan a war crime suspect known as Abu Qattara, it justified its action by saying that it feared taking the risk that the evidence obtained through torture might be used against the suspect. According to the international law, the evidence and such statements obtained through torture are not to be admitted and to be used against suspect of war crimes. Such illegally obtained evidence, if allowed, will not only be a procedural right to a fair trial and hearing nightmare, but will also be a barrier to eradicating the terrorism itself, since the courts by admitting such evidence, will be no difference with terrorists. Just in the case of A and others vs. the secretary of state for home department[2004]UKHL56, it is a Up case on human rights where it was held that, the detention of foreign prisoners indefinitely in Belmarsh before being tried section 23 Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was inconsistent to the European Convention on Human Rights. In this case, whether such evidence was to be admitted, it was narrowed down into different cases as reflected under the exclusionary rule of Article 15 of the UN Convention against Torture. With regard to unreliability of statements obtained through torturous means, the Article gave a detailed and comprehensive detail about the inadmissibility of such evidence and the right against. It is this exclusionary rule of international law which is a concept of jus cogens which makes all nations obliged and to keep off from any violation of its core content and objective and to therefore refuses to accept any evidence which is found by means of torture. The exclusionary rule is very broad in prohibiting torture, as a consequence of this prohibition, this goes hand-in hand with what the constitution stands for, it amounts to unlawful detention because the suspect,Mr.al Qahtani, has been confined for nearly nine years without any trial, in November 18, 2008: Chief Prosecutor Lawrence Morris made a public statement that he would be filing new charges against al Qahtani, saying that those new charges were based on “independent and reliable evidence.” Hither today, he has never filed any charges.   In January 14, 2009, a senior official in charge of the military commission; Susan Crawford admitted that the military tortured al Qahtani, she said that his treatment met the legal ingredients of torture, she went on to say that, it was the reason why she did not refer the case for prosecution, this statement led to the withdrawal of the charges in may 2008(MacAskill et al). It will be safe to assume that if the military had enough reasons to believe that the suspect was involved in any terrorist activities, the government would have taken him to court already instead of detaining and mistreating the suspect. This is a fact also echoed in Stunk v. United States, 412 U.S. 434 (1973), where it was held by the Supreme Court the suspects’ right to a fair trial was violated, there would be no any other remedy, this would be reversal or a dismissal where there would be no other footing for the prosecution. Fourteenth Amendment of the American constitution provides for the respect the religious civil rights of every individual and the First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion, and also section one of the 14th Amendment prohibits segregation, on the basis of religion, it is encompassed in the "the equal protection of the laws" for all people. References Woodward, B. (January 14, 2009). Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official. The Washington Post. MacAskill, E., Dodd, V. (January 15, 2009). Bush administration: We tortured Qahtani. The Guardian. London. Read More