Guantanamo trials called tainted by coercion

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military commission trials of Guantanamo terrorism suspects will be tainted by coercive tactics such as waterboarding used to obtain evidence and should be scrapped, human rights groups said on Monday.

A report by advocacy group Human Rights First said the use of evidence obtained by "torture and other inhuman treatment" is systematic at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and has already tainted legal decisions there.

It called for transferring terrorism trials to military courts-martial or civilian courts, which bar the use of evidence obtained by coercion. The Pentagon defended the military commission system as appropriate and lawful, but rights groups and a military attorney for one of the suspects said it was fatally flawed.

"This system flies in the face of law that has been in place for more than 200 years in this country. It taints the legitimacy of proceedings both at home and internationally," said Deborah Colson, a co-author of the report.

The report comes as military lawyers prepare for hearings this week in the Guantanamo war court for three prisoners, including Canadian captive Omar Khadr, who is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Charges are pending against 12 Guantanamo detainees, including six who are accused of involvement in the September 11 attacks and would face execution if convicted.

It also comes two days after President George W. Bush vetoed a bill to bar the CIA from using waterboarding and other interrogation techniques not authorized in the U.S. Army's Field Manual.

The CIA has acknowledged using waterboarding on three terrorism suspects, including accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but says it stopped in 2003. It says about one-third of the 100 suspects in its terrorism detention and interrogation programs were subjected to harsh interrogation techniques.

ALLEGING ABUSE  Continued...