JURIST - Paper Chase: Fourth Guantanamo Bay detainee faces military commission charges

[JURIST] The US military has charged [press release] a Guantanamo Bay detainee with attempted murder [charge sheet, PDF] and intentionally causing serious bodily harm, the Defense Department said Thursday. Mohammed Jawad [DOD materials], an Afghan national, allegedly threw a grenade at two US soldiers and an interpreter in their vehicle on December 17, 2002 in Kabul. Jawad is the fourth Guantanamo detainee to be formally charged with war crimes under the 2006 Military Commissions Act [PDF text]. David Hicks [JURIST news archive] pleaded guilty to a charge of supporting terrorism [JURIST reports] before a US military commission last March after spending more than five years in US custody since his capture in Afghanistan. Salim Hamdan and Omar Khadr [JURIST news archives] are awaiting trials. Both Jawad and Khadr allegedly committed war crimes while they were still minors. AFP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

In 2006, Hamdan successfully challenged the military commission system when the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that the commissions as initially constituted violated US and international law. Congress subsequently passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and Hamdan again challenged the system, arguing that it still violates his rights, but the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal [JURIST report] in October. He had hoped the Supreme Court would consider his case along with those of other detainees challenging their detention at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report].

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...