Free Republic

The first civilian trial of a Guantánamo Bay detainee was delayed today after a Manhattan judge told prosecutors they could not call their star witness. Judge Lewis Kaplan blocked the government in Washington from calling a man whom authorities said sold explosives to Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the defendant. Defence lawyers say investigators learned about the witness only after Ghailani underwent harsh interrogation at a secret CIA camp between 2004 and 2006. "The court has not reached this conclusion lightly," Kaplan wrote. "It is acutely aware of the perilous nature of the world in which we live. But the constitution is...

The CIA's alleged torture of accused U.S. embassy bomber Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani does not justify dismissing criminal charges against him, a federal judge ruled yesterday. Southern District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected the claim made by Mr. Ghailani's defense attorneys that the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment requires dismissal of the indictment based on "outrageous" government misconduct. The reason, the judge said, was that there was no causal connection between the defendant's alleged mistreatment and his prosecution in the Southern District.