Judge Orders Release of Youngest Detainee

A federal judge has ordered that one of the youngest detainees at Guantánamo be released by late next month, "in a case that drew wide attention because of rulings that he had been tortured by Afghan officials and abused in American custody," The New York Times reports. Mohammed Jawad has long faced American charges that, as a 14- or 15-year-old, he threw a hand grenade in Kabul that injured two American servicemen and their Afghan interpreter. But the judge, Ellen Segal Huvelle, declared that the government's case for continuing Jawad's imprisonment was “riddled with holes” and that almost all of the government’s evidence came from confessions made after being threatened with death. “Enough has been imposed on this young man to date,” Huvelle said. Still, Jawad may face civilian criminal charges in the U.S. "We have won the battle,” said his military lawyer, Maj. David J. R. Frakt. “Have we won the war? Perhaps it remains to be seen.”