A US military judge has ruled that the confession of an al-Qaeda suspect, allegedly involved in a bloody attack on a US naval ship, cannot be used as evidence. The reason behind this decision is that the man was subjected to torture.
The defendant in question is Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. He is suspected of leading the attack on the US Navy ship USS Cole in Yemen in the year 2000. This attack resulted in the loss of 17 lives.
Judge Lanny Acosta, who heard the case, stressed that the terror suspect’s confession is considered invalid because of the prolonged beatings he endured while in the hands of the Americans. He was exposed to methods such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation in secret prisons for two years. The judge is therefore of the opinion that the evidence cannot be admitted.
He put it this way: “Accepting evidence arising from torture by the same government that seeks to prosecute and execute the accused would incur even greater social costs.” The United States has been detaining terrorist suspects at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba for some time. There has been a squabble for years over the use of evidence obtained through torture.
Al-Nashiri’s lawyer, Anthony Natale, said the judge rejected important evidence that military prosecutors hoped to use to build their case against his client. His other attorney, Katie Carmon, agrees with the judge’s position and considers this decision to be both ethically and legally correct. She describes it as a “modest step forward” in protecting the integrity of the justice system.
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