Newsweek: Gov't. motion to silence Padilla defense

by Valtin
Daily Kos
Dec. 05, 2006

U.S. citizen Jose Padilla was infamously accused by John Ashcroft of wanting to set off a "dirty bomb" for Al Queda. After being held incommunicado in solitary confinement for three years, and tortured, the government dropped the bomb charge and now wants to put him away on vague charges of supporting terrorism.

But, as Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball report, the government wants to silence Padilla's attorneys, not allowing them to bring up Padilla's treatment by the government, and not allowing public testimony of any kind, in the name of "national security" (of course).

Valtin's diary :: ::

This blatant attempt to turn the U.S. courts into a Star Chamber must be opposed by the new Democratic majority. And the blog world, starting with Daily Kos, must speak out loud and long against this horrific and dangerous miscarriage of justice.

Government prosecutors presented a motion on the Padilla case to block public testimony about the conditions of Padilla's three year incarceration at a South Carolina military brig -- with no recourse to habeas corpus, with no attorney, with no friendly human or family contact of any kind for three years! From the Newsweek/MSNBC article:

Even permitting Padilla’s lawyers to raise the issue of his alleged mistreatment, prosecutors argued, may "inflame the jury" and invite "jury nullification"—the term used to describe what happens when rebellious jurors declare a defendant not guilty, no matter what the evidence, because they are so offended by the government’s conduct....

The matter could prove even more awkward because, according to a source close to Padilla’s defense team—who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters—any hearing could end up requiring the Pentagon to turn over highly classified video and audiotapes allegedly made of Padilla’s interrogation sessions at the U.S. military brig in Charleston, S.C. The content of the tapes has been the subject of recent discussion among lawyers in the case, the source said.

The government is afraid its treatment of Padilla would "shock the conscience" of the average jury member, leading to Padilla's release. Especially if Padilla's torture is recorded on video and/or audio tape! ("Shocking the conscience" is a legal term, relevant to a finding of cruel and unusual punishment under the 5th and 8th amendments to the Constitution. See discussion at this site.)

What sort of treatment could so shock us?

The case took a further unexpected turn last month when Padilla’s lawyers filed a highly detailed 20-page motion alleging that all the criminal charges against him should be dismissed because of "outrageous government conduct," including a claim that he was forcibly administered mind-altering drugs in an effort to get him to provide information about his alleged Al Qaeda accomplices....

Padilla was kept in a state of "complete sensory deprivation," confined for months at a time in a "tiny cell" where the temperatures were manipulated to "extremely cold" levels and "noxious fumes" were introduced, causing his eyes and nose to run. Loud clanging noises were repeatedly heard making it impossible for him to sleep, the motion stated. Padilla himself was hooded, forced to stand in uncomfortable stress positions and kept "shackled and manacled with a belly chain," the motion further states. He was also threatened with being forcibly removed from the United States to another country....

"Additionally, Mr. Padilla was given drugs against his will, believed to be some form of lysergic acid diethylmamide (LSD) or phencyclidine (PACP) to act as a sort of truth serum during his interrogations."

Here is the link to the defense's brief re Government's "Outrageous Conduct".

The government, for the record, denies any maltreatment. Then why do they fear public testimony?

But at least some of the allegations in Padilla’s motion mirror claims that were first made by FBI agents and lawyers for detainees held at Guantánamo and which were later confirmed by the U.S. military. An investigation ordered by Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, found last year that military interrogators at Guantánamo did in fact subject some detainees to yelling and loud noises, disrupt their sleep patterns, lower the temperatures in their cells to make them uncomfortable—all in an effort to "lower their resistance" and get them to provide interrogators with more information.

There's much more I could write on this, but I haven't the time. I want Daily Kos readers to write to newspapers, Congressmen, Senators, and put the heat on the government to not delay justice anymore. Stop the torture! Bring back Habeas Corpus! Stop the tryanny!