Mahjoub Hearing – Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Hi all:

I attended much of the hearing today. It consisted of the examination by Public Counsel Yavar Hameed and cross-examination by Ministers’ Counsel (a woman whose name I didn’t get), of a Mr. Joshua Dratel who heads a New York City law firm. He was called to be a witness by Public Counsel because of his expertise on ‘U.S. National Security and Terrorism’. See http://tinyurl.com/25puxch

Mr. Dratel is one of the editors of The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib http://tinyurl.com/273xep8

He has been a defence lawyer for about ten years (30 years altogether) for at least one of the accused in the ‘Embassy bombing trial’, related to the U.S. embassies that were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, allegedly by the Al Qaeda organization. Mr. Dratel has also defended some Guantanamo detainees and has won awards for his work.

Most of the day’s arguments that I heard consisted of the Ministers’ Counsel’s attempts to discredit Mr. Dratel’s expertise, saying that being a defence lawyer does not make one an expert on terrorism or an expert on a Canadian case such as the one being heard. Public Counsel made the case that Mr. Dratel is indeed a renowned and experienced defence lawyer and an expert on international law whose testimony will bear on the present case.

Over the lunch recess from 1:45 until 2:30 pm, Justice Blanchard made his decision and just after 2:30 pm, Justice Blanchard announced that indeed Mr. Dratel was an expert witness that should be heard in his court. Public Counsel proceeded to examine Mr. Dratel and we heard quite a bit about the history of Al Qaeda; how and why it formed and about its activities and those of bin Laden and others in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the Soviet occupation; the bin Laden activities in Sudan and other parts of Africa – some of which involved legitimate businesses and agricultural operations, as the court heard previously from Professor Wark. Several of the co-conspirators in the Embassy bombings were named as well.

The testimony of Mr. Dratel continues tomorrow – Wednesday, December 15 and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the history that has affected all of us since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Court sitting is to resume on Wednesday morning, 9:30 am, December 15, 2010 at Federal Court, 180 Queen St. W. (near Osgoode station), 6^th floor, room D.

Please consider attending even if it is for one or two hours.