Military Commissions Judge Rules That Torture Can Be a Factor in Sentencing

Military judge Col. Douglas K. Watkins issued a ruling on June 4 holding that military judges have "legal authority to grant administrative credit as a remedy for illegal pretrial punishment." The ruling came in the case of Majid Khan, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay who pleaded guilty in February 2012 to charges stemming from his helping to finance a 2003 al-Qaeda attack in Indonesia that killed 11 people. Khan was detained by the CIA from 2003-2006 and alleges that he was tortured while in custody. Col. Waktins deferred until sentencing on the specific questions of the merits of Khan's claim that he was tortured and on whether Khan is entitled to sentencing mitigation as a result of his alleged treatment in government custody. (The ruling can be found by following the link to the original article.)