ACLU challenges U.S. detention of Afghan

WASHINGTON, July 2 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union has accused the Obama administration of using false confessions to justify imprisonment of a Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee.

ACLU lawyers asked a federal judge Wednesday to reject statements of their client, Mohamed Jawad, and others, arguing Jawad was abused while in U.S. custody, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

"The government's continued reliance on evidence gained by torture and other abuse violates centuries of U.S. law and suggests the current administration is not really serious about breaking with the past," said

ACLU lawyer Jonathan Hafetz, who is representing Jawad in a lawsuit challenging his detention.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd told the Post the government would not comment on what it would present in Jawad's case challenging his imprisonment.

Hafetz said his client was subjected to death threats, sleep deprivation, forced into "stress position," among other things, while being interrogated by Afghan and U.S. interrogators since his capture in 2002, military and federal records indicated. The government alleged Jawad threw a grenade into a vehicle containing two U.S. Special Forces soldiers and was associated with a group tied to Osama bin Laden.

Jawad's case drew attention last year when a military prosecutor left his post abruptly, saying the case was problematic and Jawad was physically and psychologically mistreated while in custody, the Post said. That former prosecutor then filed papers supporting Jawad's challenge.