A Miscarriage of Justice, or Same Shit, Different Day

Maybe you have heard the story of a young Afghan man named Mohammad Jawad, who has spent the last seven years of his life in prison. Accused of a crime he probably didn't commit. He was only about twelve when he was arrested. I've read various news reports on it, and I have to inject my two cents, that the government doesn't really have a leg to stand on. Their defense is, never mind the torture that was involved, that a bone scan they did showed he was either 16, 17 or 18 depending on which version of their story you want to believe. I suppose that story is fine and well for the uneducated masses, but I've studied Archaeology and I know good and well you cannot accurately determine an exact age from a bone scan. There is variation in populations and that is only accurate within maybe three years in either direction making for a window of six years, and he could have had an advanced bone structure and been twelve or thirteen. I somehow don't think that defense would hold up in a court of law.

His mother says he was born in 1991, and for some reason, I have more reason to believe her than I do a government that lies about everything else. How sad, not only did they take away seven years of this young man's life that cannot be given back, but they took him away from his family, and didn't even bother to tell his family where he was until Red Cross workers delivered a message from him nine months later.

On top of the fact that they imprisoned a young minor, they tortured him as well, using sleep deprivation and what the Spanish Inquisition called "Strapado" where they bind your hands behind your back and hang you up by your wrists. Isn't that special? The news reports never identify what they're describing, might be a bit much for the masses to realize what our government has done. Then again, would they even realize? When 8% of North Carolinians don't even realize that Hawaii is a state, I somehow doubt it.

Makes me real proud of my country and of humanity in general, to know that my fellow countrymen carried out medieval torture like barbarians and all in the 21st century. Not.