Joshua Claus
 Joshua Claus    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Known for | torturing Omar Khadr and Dilawar |
Joshua R. Claus is a former US Army Sargeant, whose unit was present at both Abu Ghraib and the Bagram Theater Detention Facility.[1] [2]
Claus's role in the deaths in custody of Dilawar and Habibullah
Claus pleaded guilty to playing a role in the routine abuse of captives held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theatre Detention Facility in 2002 [3] [4] during the period Claus's unit, the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, was assigned to Bagram. Habibullah and Dilawar were killed in custody during that time. Both deaths were classified by US military pathologists as homicides. Claus was named, together with 27 other members of the United States Armed Forces, for the role they played in the routine abuse. However, military prosecutors decided that responsibility for the deaths was spread too broadly for any one soldier to face murder or manslaughter charges. A decision which amounted to a formal admission that serious systematic torture of prisoners was endemic in the US military detentions regime.
Claus was charged with assault, prisoner maltreatment, and lying to investigators. He plead guilty, and received a five month prison sentence in 2005.
Claus's interrogation of Omar Khadr
On March 14, 2008, it became known that Claus was one of Omar Khadr's first interrogators.[2] The U.S. government attempted suppress this information by requiring reporters to identify Claus only as "Interrogator One". [5]
References
- ↑ Suicide Bomber on Motorbike Kills 8 Afghan Soldiers and a Civilian - New York Times 28 September 2005
- ↑ a b Was Omar Khadr coerced? - National Post 14 March 2008 Legal arguments before the U.S. war crimes commission in Guantanamo Bay indicated Sgt. Joshua Claus of military intelligence participated in many, maybe all, of the interrogations of the Canadian terror suspect after U.S. forces delivered him to the Bagram detention centre in Afghanistan in July 2002.
- ↑ Abuse Cases - charged with assault, prisoner maltreatment, and lying to investigators
- ↑ Other Abuse Cases - The next morning, December 9, 2002, Dilawar was subjected to his final interrogation at which he was unable to kneel when ordered or physically comply with anything. This caused the interrogation session to erode to more physical abuse. An interrogator identified as Spc. Joshua Claus took over from Walls, who remained present. Dilawar's last interrogation eroded into more abuse and assault and he was returned to his cell and re-shackled. "Dilawar was found dead the next morning.
- ↑ Obama Administration Demands Amnesia From Reporters Covering Gitmo - Huffington Post 7 May 2010
Warning: Default sort key "Claus, Joshua R." overrides earlier default sort key "Claus, Joshua".
