Petition for dropping charges against "child soldier" Mohammad Jawad

Mohammad Jawad — arrested when he was 16 or 17 on highly questionable charges of throwing a grenade at US troops — has been imprisoned at Guantanamo for 5 1/2 years. Now he is up on war crimes charges. His defense attorney, Maj. David Frakt, last week asked supporters to write letters to the Military Commission Convening Authority requesting her to drop the charges against Jawad. Now Maj. Frakt is supplementing this letter-writting campaign with a petition. So please write a letter [more information and instructions here] and sign the petition.

Here is the text of the Petition:

Support Defense Request for Guantanamo Detainee Mohammad Jawad

Target: The Honorable Susan J. Crawford, Convening Authority of the Military Commissions
Sponsored by: Major David J. R. Frakt, Detailed Defense Counsel, Guantanamo Commission

WHEREAS,

1. Significant doubt exists about Mohammad Jawad’s culpability for the grenade attack on U.S. forces on December 17, 2002, in Kabul, Afghanistan;

2. Mohammad Jawad was a juvenile, only 16 or 17 years old, at the time he was taken into U.S. military custody on December 17, 2002;

3. Mohammad Jawad was subjected to extreme and illegal physical and psychological abuse at Bagram Air Base prison from December 18, 2002 to February 6, 2003, including, but not limited to, sleep deprivation, prolonged stress positions, threats, beatings, and being chained to the wall;

4.  Mohammad Jawad has been subjected to extreme and illegal physical and psychological abuse at Guantanamo Bay from February 6, 2008, including, but not limited to, sleep deprivation, prolonged isolation, threats, beatings, temperature extremes, sensory deprivation and sensory overload;

5.  Mohammad Jawad has been consistently denied the rights accorded to him under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and under the Geneva Prisoner of War Convention and Geneva Convention Common Article 3;

6.  Mohammad Jawad’s alleged act of throwing a hand grenade at lawful combatants in an armed conflict does not constitute a violation of the international law of war;

7.  Mohammad Jawad has been unlawfully denied any opportunities for rehabilitation and reintegration during his nearly 6 years of captivity;

8.  Mohammad Jawad is not affiliated in any way with the Taliban or Al Qaida, and is not alleged to have any involvement in any terrorist attacks and is not charged with any crimes of terrorism;

9.  The United States has consistently opposed trying child soldiers as war criminals, and there is no mention in the entire legislative history of the Military Commissions Act by a single member of Congress of 2006 of any intent to try juvenile combatants or child soldiers; no juvenile or child soldier has ever been tried in an international war crimes tribunal for war crimes in modern history;

10.  It is our view that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was intended to provide a vehicle to bring to justice those persons responsible for major terrorist attacks on the United States and its allies, such as the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the bombing of U.S. Embassies in East Africa;

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