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MARCO WERMAN: Major David Frakt is an Air Force lawyer with the Judge Advocate General corps. He's representing another Guantanamo detainee named Mohammed Jawad. Jawad is accused of Attempted Murder. He allegedly threw a grenade that wounded two US soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002. Major Frakt is in Washington. What's happening in the case of Mohammed Jawad? Is it affected at all by everything that's been happening around the Guantanamo issue?

MAJOR FRAKT: Yes. Mohammed's case is currently on hold, basically suspended, pursuant to President Obama's executive order while they review all the detainees' situations over the next 120 days.

WERMAN: Do you think it's likely that he's going to be set free because of this order?

FRAKT: Well I think that there are three categories of people: People that are eligible for release, people that should be tried, and a third category of people that are too dangerous to release but there's no basis to try them in a criminal court. I think that Mohammed falls into the first category of someone who should be released. The charges against him have basically fallen apart. The case was on the verge of being dismissed or certainly would have resulted in acquittal had it gone to a trial in front of a military commission. The military judge had rejected the government's theory of the case and determined that simply throwing a hand grenade at US soldiers is not a war crime that's triable by military commissions. All of the self-incriminating statements allegedly made by Mohammed were determined to be the product of torture and were suppressed by the military judge.

WERMAN: Including the statement where he admitted to carrying out the attack?

FRAKT: Yes. Exactly. That statement was determined to have been obtained by torture.

WERMAN: How has he been coping with his imprisonment? I mean, he's been in Guantanamo for over six years. How old was he when he went to Guantanamo?

FRAKT: He was approximately 16. He's spent nearly a third of his life at Guantanamo. We had a court-appointed psychologist meet with him and assess his current status. She's very concerned about his deteriorating mental health as a result of being kept in unnecessarily harsh conditions. He's still essentially in a solitary confinement or segregation type status. He's very frustrated by the delays. He's been asserting his innocence for six years now and simply hasn't been able to get anyone to listen to him.

WERMAN: What country is Mohammed Jawad from again?

FRAKT: He's from Afghanistan.

WERMAN: And would he go back to Afghanistan? Does he talk about going home?

FRAKT: Yes. Actually, after six years without any contact with his family, through the international community of the Red Cross, he was finally able to get a phone call home to his family. And they had been in a refugee camp in Pakistan, but as conditions have improved somewhat in Afghanistan, they're back in Afghanistan and they're eager for him to return home. And he's eager to return home.

WERMAN: Major Frakt, we spoke with you last summer and you made a strong case for the need in the military commissions to be kind of hard-wired to the ideals of due process. I mean, the case of Mohammed Jawad is kind of up in the air but maybe almost concluded per the Obama administration's plan to suspend proceedings. What kind of position does this put you in as a champion of sorts for due process? I think many would say Mohammed Jawad seems to qualify as someone who ought to be tried. On the other hand, if he gets released, maybe he goes back to Afghanistan, his treatment there could be potentially worse than what he's seen in Guantanamo?

FRAKT: Well, I am certainly concerned that if he went back to Afghanistan that he might be tried there, and that they still have a very corrupt legal system there. But I believe that President Obama is committed to the rule of law, committed to fair treatment of the detainees, and I have confidence that this administration, unlike the prior one, is going to do the right thing by Mohammed Jawad. And I will stay with it until the end, until I see him safely home.

WERMAN: Major David Frakt is an Air Force lawyer with the Judge Advocate General court. He's representing Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad. Major Frakt, thank you very much.

FRAKT: My pleasure. Thank you.

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