Lawfare Archive: Can Torture Evidence Be Used at Guantanamo Bay?

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

Law, Terrorism, History, Politics, News, National Security, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, Diplomacy, International Law, International Relations, Constitutional Law, Rule Of Law, Current Events, Government, Military

4.7 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From August 8, 2023: Just weeks ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the life sentence of a Yemeni national serving out his time at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. He had appealed this life sentence, in part on the grounds that his conviction was based on evidence obtained by torture. Meanwhile, at the Guantanamo military commissions, another detainee tried to appeal charges against him on the basis that torture-obtained evidence was used in his referral for trial by the military commissions—but in June, the body that reviews referrals for trials at Guantanamo denied this appeal. He and his co-defendants are currently set to have pre-trial hearings in October.

All of this is happening despite the fact that in 2022, in a case about a different Guantanamo detainee, the Biden administration’s Justice Department committed to a reinterpretation of a key statute that blocks the use of torture-obtained evidence in Guantanamo litigation and reaffirmed that it would not try to admit statements that the detainee gave while in CIA custody.

So how and why is it that torture-obtained evidence still seems to be being used in certain GTMO cases? To understand the issues, Lawfare Associate Editor Hyemin Han spoke to Scott Roehm, Director of Global Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Victims of Torture, and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law School. They talked about the history of torture evidence at GTMO, dove into a few cases in context of the Justice Department’s 2022 re-interpretation, and discussed what this all might mean for other GTMO detainees moving forward.

To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The following podcast contains advertising.
0:04.4	To access an ad-free version of the Lawfare podcast, become a material supporter of Lawfare
0:10.8	at patreon.com slash lawfare. That's patreon.com slash lawfare.
0:18.2	Also, check out Lawfare's other podcast offerings, Rational Security, Chatter, Lawfare No Bull,
0:26.9	and The Aftermath.
0:32.5	Every day, UK businesses sell their products and services to the world.
0:38.9	We know that growing your business internationally and finding new customers can look challenging, but it doesn't have to. Whether
0:44.5	you're new to it or been doing it for years, at great.gov.uk, you'll find free support from
0:50.7	the UK government on finding the right markets, making an export plan,
0:55.0	understanding logistics and more. Find the answers and sell to the world at great.gov.
1:02.0	UK. I'm Ben Green, intern at Lawfare, with an episode from the Lawfare Archive for January 1st, 2025.
1:20.6	Last month, the Defence Department repatriated two Malaysian nationals imprisoned in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
1:28.4	Guantanamo Bay, or Gitmo, has frequently been in the news in recent weeks,
1:32.5	with the judge at Guantanamo reversing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's attempt
1:36.0	to cancel the guilty pleas negotiated by the defendants in the 9-11 case.
1:40.4	For today's archive episode, I selected an episode from August 8th, 2003, the Lawfare podcast,
1:48.0	Can Torture Evidence Be used at Guantanamo Bay, in which Lawfare Associate editor, Heyman Hung,
1:53.3	spoke to Scott Ream, Director of Global Policy and Advocacy at the Centre for Victims of Torture
1:58.3	and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown Law School.
2:01.9	They talked about the history of torture evidence at Gitmo, explored several cases in the
2:06.4	context of the Justice Department's 2022 reinterpretation, discuss what this all might mean for
2:11.9	Gitmo detainees moving forward, and more.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.