U.S. Citizen Facing Execution in Iraq

[Jack]

Lawyers for an American citizen facing execution in Iraq appealed Friday in U.S. federal court to keep the man in American custody _ preventing his death _ while another case is being appealed. The citizen, Mohammad Munaf, was convicted and sentenced to death by an Iraqi judge earlier this week on charges he helped in the 2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Baghdad, court papers show. Iraqi-born Munaf, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2000, was working as their translator and guide. He maintains his innocence. In an emergency request filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, Munaf's attorneys claim his rights to a fair trial in Iraq were violated when he was convicted without being able to present evidence in his defense _ or to see the evidence against him. "This court's failure to temporarily halt Mr. Munaf's transfer to Iraqi custody will not only send Mr. Munaf to his death without due process, it will eviscerate ... core protections against arbitrary and lawless executive action," Munaf's attorneys wrote. The legal filing asks the court to block the Defense Department, which has been holding Munaf at a prison at the Baghdad International Airport, from turning him over to Iraqi authorities. A Pentagon spokesman did not return a call for comment Friday. A federal appeals court in Washington already is considering whether the U.S. military can turn over suspected terrorists to the Iraqi government. The cases of Munaf and Shawqi Omar, who is accused of being a top lieutenant to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, could decide whether the Bush administration has exceeded its authority in trying to keep Americans it has identified as terrorists out of U.S. courts. The Romanian government has accused Munaf of assisting in the March 2005 kidnapping. He was held with the three journalists for 55 days before they were released, his attorneys said. The Romanian Embassy turned Munaf over to U.S. authorities in Baghdad. No Romanian officials attended Munaf's trial, according to the papers filed by his attorneys. But two U.S. military officials _ including a soldier claiming to represent the Romanian Embassy _ demanded that Munaf be found "guilty and should be executed," the papers say. The Iraqi judge, identified as Judge al-Rubayy, initially appeared ready to drop the charges against Munaf, his lawyers contend. But after meeting privately with the two military officials, al-Rubayy convicted Munaf and sentenced him to death, the lawyers say. Munaf could be transferred to Iraqi custody at any time, said one of his attorneys, Jonathan Hafetz of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's law school.

Source

In case this doesn't alarm you, consider this comment on the case:

Yesterday afternoon I spoke with one of Munaf's American lawyers, and in the evening I discussed the case with one of the Iraqi lawyers who handled it. The judge, he said, had at a prior hearing informed defense counsel that he had reviewed the entire file and had reached a decision to dismiss the charges. "There is no material evidence against your client," he was quoted as stating. When two US officers appeared at the trial date with the prisoner, they reacted with anger when told of the Court's decision � and made clear it was "unacceptable." One of these US officers purported to speak on behalf of the Romanian Embassy, which, he said "demanded the death penalty." (The Government of Romania has since stated both that it had no authorized representative at the hearing and that it did not demand the death penalty). They then insisted upon and got an ex parte meeting with the judge - from which the defendant and his lawyers were excluded. Afterwards an ashen-faced judge emerged, returned to his court and proceeded to sentence the American to death. No evidence was taken; no trial was conducted. The sentence was entered on the basis of a demand by the two American officers that their fellow countryman be put to death... On Tuesday, the President intends to sign the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which purports to terminate the writ of habeas corpus for US detainees overseas. In so doing, he may well be confirming a death sentence for Mohammed Manaf. This case is shocking because it deals with an American citizen who is being stripped of his rights under a foreign legal process, including the right to a trial, at the insistence of US Forces. It provides strong grounds to question what US Forces are doing in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. As a practitioner in that court, I can only say that none of the facts detailed in the Brennan Center's papers or described by the defendant's attorney strike me as surprising. They are consistent with things I observed with my own eyes in Baghdad in the spring of this year.

Source

Is this how we wish to present our legal system to the residents of Iraq? Is this what democracy results in? How is this so different than what Saddam might have done?

[Clarence]

U.S. citizen facing execution in Iraq - Yahoo! News

This isn't getting half the attention it should.

Why would an american be kidnapping journalists in Iraq?

No Romanian officials attended Munaf's trial, according to the papers filed by his attorneys. But two U.S. military officials — including a soldier claiming to represent the Romanian Embassy — demanded that Munaf be found "guilty and should be executed," the papers say.

this is funny. ha ha.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Have you noticed there hasnt been any RightWing acts of terrorism here in the states in the last few years? My speculation is that they are all employed by Blackwater USA (mercenaries) and are responsible for all kinds of mischief over there. Bombings and kidnappings and torture.

Journalists have been targetted since the beginning of the aggressions.

[The Architect]

If he really did kill these men, then the Romanian should provided significant evidence that he did, then a judge should decided whether he goes into american or Romanian custody, dont forget he is still an American and should have every right every other american has at home.

the President intends to sign the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which purports to terminate the writ of habeas corpus for US detainees overseas.

.
Whats habeas corpus?

[Zeebadee]

From the article quoted -

"In an emergency request filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, Munaf's attorneys claim his rights to a fair trial in Iraq were violated when he was convicted without being able to present evidence in his defense _ or to see the evidence against him."

Isn't this, along with torture, pretty much the same thing bush has been doing for some time now?