Jury is out for Hamdan, and the tribunal process

The tribunal's chief prosecutor, Army Col. Lawrence Morris, deemed the trial "an open and fair and thorough process." The prosecutor -- who took over after Air Force Col. Morris D. Davis resigned in protest of political interference in the trials last fall -- said he thought the Hamdan case struck a "balance between security and the right to present a case."

Davis remains an advocate of the tribunal but left after complaining of "unlawful command influence" by Crawford's legal advisor, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann.

Human rights advocates disparaged government claims to have conducted a fair trial for the 38-year-old Yemeni with a fourth-grade education.

"This trial has been an embarrassment. It's embarrassing that the United States would convene the first tribunal since World War II to prosecute such a lowly and marginal figure, and it's embarrassing that this system has been devised to allow prosecution of the alleged crimes of the detainees while covering up the crimes committed against them," said Ben Wizner, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.

He said the Hamdan case was put on first to test the system ahead of prosecutions at which torture will be a central issue, such as the autumn trial expected for five accused plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Administration officials have admitted eliciting confessions from alleged mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two other prisoners here through "waterboarding," the interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

"From Hamdan's perspective, this is a Potemkin proceeding," Wizner said, a dry run to provide assurance that no barriers arise to the introduction of coerced evidence or hearsay in future trials.

--

carol.williams@latimes.com