US Used Mentally Ill Witness at Gitmo

Justice Department lawyers withheld records detailing the mental illness of a witness used against numerous fellow Guantanamo detainees, McClatchy Newspapers report. "How can this court have any confidence whatsoever in the United States government to comply with its obligations and to be truthful?" asked a federal judge, who ruled last week that the witness' testimony could be unreliable. Records suggest the detainee has an antisocial personality disorder.

Among other cases, the witness testified against a Yemeni doctor who's been at Gitmo for 7 years, and whose case was dropped last week by the US government. The judge questioned prosecutors’ motives and vowed not to let the doctor’s case drag on. "This Guantanamo issue is a travesty and I'm not going to buy into an extended indefinite delay of this man's stay." (More Guantanamo Bay stories.)