Friday, February 26, 2016

Guantánamo, again

Professor Jonathan Hafetz has an insightful piece over at Just Security: "Torture and Transparency in the Military Commissions." Conclusion:
In short, facts matter. They matter not only to determinations of guilt and the imposition of sentences on individual defendants, but also to the integrity of the proceedings themselves. While stipulations designed to avoid unnecessary litigation represent a sensible step forward, they should not short-circuit a defendant’s right to obtain information as relevant as the details of his prior torture by the same government seeking to convict and execute him. History teaches that the public (or even just the defense lawyers) will know the full scope of the horrors of the CIA torture program only if all of the information is disclosed. And the full scope of horrors ultimately matters for all three of the commissions’ stated goals: fairness, transparency, and justice.

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