Mohamed Jawad - Guantanamo Military Commission Charges

Guantanamo Military Commission Charges

Jawad was charged before a Guantanamo military commission of attempted murder for allegedly throwing a grenade into a U.S. military vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan on December 17, 2002. He was the fourth detainee to face charges under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. On October 17, 2007, Jawad was charged with three counts of attempted murder in violation of the law of war and three counts of intentionally causing bodily injury in violation of the law of war.

Jawad refused to appear at his arraignment in March 2008, but was forcibly removed from his cell and brought to the commission hearing room. He appeared without incident at the next hearing in May.

Jawad's defense attorney, Major David Frakt, filed motions seeking the dismissal of charges based on the fact that Jawad was captured as a teenager, treated brutally in U.S. custody and wasn't a member of a terrorist organization. Another motion complained of the involvement by the legal advisor to the commissions, Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, who had been suspended from participating in another tribunal following similar complaints. On August 14, 2008, judge Colonel Stephen Henley barred Hartmann from future participation in Jawad's case.

Jawad's military prosecutor, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, resigned from the Office of Military Commissions in September 2008. Vandeveld filed a four-page declaration with the court that stated "potentially exculpatory evidence has not been provided" to the defense. The evidence included the possibility that Jawad may have been drugged prior to the attack and that the Afghan Interior Ministry said two other men had confessed to throwing the grenade into the U.S. military jeep in Afghanistan. Vandeveld later testified to the same effect in court.

In October 2008, judge Col. Henley determined that both confessions Jawad made to Afghan and U.S. officials on December 17, 2002 were inadmissible due to being obtained as a result of torture, because Afghan policemen threatened to kill him and his family unless he confessed. Col. Henley ruled the confession in U.S. custody was also inadmissible because of the earlier torture in addition to the fact that the U.S. interrogator blindfolded and hooded Jawad in order to maintain his fearful state.

Maj. Frakt filed a motion on July 28, 2009 with Jawad's military commission asking for dismissal following US District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle's ruling he was a noncombatant.