Category Archives: Padilla

Padilla Claims US Relies on Evidence Extracted by Torture

Jose Padilla’s lawyers have filed motions to suppress evidence from two sources, one whom he alleges was tortured after US rendition to Morocco. Explosive stuff.

Quick summary at Jurist.

Talkleft has the most details:

One of the witnesses, Binyam Ahmed Muhammad, was held at Guantanamo. The other, Abu Zubayda, is being held in a secret overseas location.

Patel said Muhammad has told his own lawyer that he was whipped, hung from the ceiling of his cell with leather straps and later taken to Morocco where he was tortured with a razor. Patel said Zubayda was treated after his arrest for gunshot wounds, raising questions about “the effect the medications may have had on Abu Zubayda’s ability to provide accurate information.”

I have just reviewed the defense motion, here is the exact quote:

Binyam Muhammad has informed his attorney that after his arrest in Karachi, Pakistan, he was held in prison where he was hung from the ceiling of his cell with leather straps . Binyam Muhammad was whipped by his Pakistani jailers but they asked him no questions as they had no common language . Binyam Muhammad reports to his counsel that he was questioned by four agents who he believes were FBI agents . He was whipped by the jailers before and after being questioned by the FBI agent who asked him questions about Mr. Padilla. Binyam Muhammad was later flown to Morocco where he was further questioned about Mr. Padilla and tortured by means of a razor being used to make incisions on his chest and his genitals.

The defense alleges these two witnesses were the Government’s only sources for the arrest warrant.

It is respectfully submitted that the use of information obtained by torture, whether the torture is disclosed or undisclosed, is an act so unlawful and so contrary to the core values of this Nation as to both shock the conscience and render any search based on such information unreasonable. It is respectfully requested that this Court should hold a hearing so that the circumstances of the interrogation of both Abu Zubayda and Binyam Muhamma can be fully established. At the conclusion of such a hearing it is respectfully submitted that the Court will enter an Order suppressing all evidence seized from Mr . Padilla at the time of his arrest in Chicago.

The items Padilla is seeking to suppress were seized from him at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on May 8, 2002 when he was arrested on a material witness warrant as he disembarked a plane from Switzerland.

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No Bail for Padilla

Judge Martha Cooke denied bail for Jose Padilla today. She cited several facts which together, I think, make the decision unassailable:

‘Dirty bomb’ suspect Padilla to remain in jail without bail: Government lawyers maintained that Padilla, who has a lengthy criminal record — including murder as a juvenile in 1985 — and a wife and children in Egypt, is both a danger to the community and a flight risk. He also used several aliases, prosecutors said.

Cooke said she was mindful of the unusual circumstances of Padilla’s detention, but would not allow his release. She noted that Padilla had failed to show up for court appearances in connection with criminal charges brought in the late 1980s and early ’90s when Padilla was involved with a Chicago gang.

According to this sympathetic profile by SusanDeborah Sontag, Padilla’s (second) wife lives in Egypt.

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Padilla Lawyers Work the System

Southern District of Florida Blog summarizes the latest Padilla news:

Lawyers for Jose Padilla have appealed Magistrate Judge Garber’s pre trial detention order. In their appeal, his lawyers contend that Mr. Padilla’s application may be a fraud. The Government argued at the detention hearing that Mr. Padilla completed the form in 2000. Defense lawyers also assert that the government did not present evidence that Mr. Padilla could speak Arabic and therefore understand the contents of the form, or that he ever adopted the Arabic name Abu Adallah al Mujahir. Justice Department lawyer Stephanie Pell explained at the hearing that the application was authenticated by a cooperating government witness. One of the most interesting assertions in the appeal is that there were apparently more than 50,000 phone calls in the alleged 8 year terrorism conspiracy, and Padilla participated in only seven conversations.

Even ignoring the fraud allegations, we haven’t seen much suggesting that the government has a particularly strong case, have we?

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Vladeck on Padilla

My youngest colleague, UM Law Prof Steve Vladeck, has another fine JURIST column, this time on the AUMF and the Ever-Increasing Importance of Padilla.

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Eyewitness to the Padilla Hearing

SD Fla blog has an eyewitness account of today’s Padilla hearing. Bottom line: plea of “absolutely not guilty”. And, oh yes, no bail.

I would have gone, except I had a prior engagement to attend this arbitration event. It was very interesting, although less historic.

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Padilla’s Family, Visiting Rules & Photos

The Miami Herald has a writeup of yesterday’s Padilla hearing; the only part of it new to me was the information that Padilla has family in Broward County, which is the county just north of Miami-Dade, and only a short drive from here. In the ordinary case that would strengthen the argument for bail. But maybe not for someone who the government wants to portray as the most dangerous man in America?

The print edition, but not alas the online version, has a picture of Padilla’s mother, who attended the hearing but sensibly didn’t speak to reporters. Looking for an online version of the photo led me to an interesting MS-NBC article from 2002 that describes Padilla’s uber-dysfunctional family background, although it’s not exactly neutral in tone (it starts out trying to explain “Padilla’s malevolent streak”).

Meanwhile, if Padilla does not get bail, he’ll presumably be kept in Miami’s “special housing unit”. The visiting rules for this facility are, I think, here and here.

Wire service images included below (since I’m just including not copying these pictures, some may be only temporary).

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