I listened to the interview, and I read the article. But there aren't enough
facts so that I can understand what this is actually about. I suppose he
can't talk about any of it because it's an ongoing case, but the news story
is rather incomplete.
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 5:00 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Boston Globe Article on the Stephen Gill Case
Marshfield senate candidate held by US Marshals - The Boston Globe
by Travis Andersen
Globe Staff October 21, 2016
A state Senate candidate was detained at gunpoint at his Marshfield home
Tuesday by federal authorities and flown to Virginia to testify in a
military
commission proceeding, after he failed to appear voluntarily, claiming a
subpoena he received was unlawful, he said Thursday.
"They have a variety of weapons trained on me," said Stephen D. Gill, an
attorney and lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve JAG Corps, of the US
Marshals
and Marshfield police who took him into custody.
"They treat me like I'm El Chapo the Mexican drug lord," Gill said in a
phone interview. "I'm put in three-point restraints, wrists shackled to my
waist."
He said he was eventually flown Tuesday from Logan Airport to Washington,
D.C., and held overnight in a Virginia jail before he was brought to a
secure
location to testify via video conference in a pretrial hearing for a
military commission on Guantanamo Bay.
The case deals with Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Abdu al-Nashiri, also
known as Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, an alleged plotter of the deadly USS Cole
bombing.
Nashiri is one of several terror suspects awaiting trial at Gitmo before
military commissions, which are run by the Defense Department, rather than
civilian
courts.
The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that Air Force Colonel Vance Spath, the
military judge presiding over Nahsiri's trial, had signed a "warrant of
attachment"
compelling Gill to appear.
Gill, who formerly worked for the Convening Authority, a body that oversees
prosecutors and defense lawyers in the commissions, in Nashiri's case, said
he was called as a defense witness to testify about alleged misconduct by
superiors who were ordered off the case.
The officials, Gill said, were "trying to influence the outcome of the
trials by speeding them up."
Gill, who is not on active duty, said he initially testified in September in
Virginia and wanted to make his next appearance at the Naval War College in
Newport, but the military refused.
He ordered to appear in Virginia, which he said was illegal, since civilians
cannot be forced to testify more than 100 miles from home in military
proceedings.
Had officials placed him back on active duty, he said, he would have
complied with the order.
Gill, an independent candidate for state senate who lost a Republican
primary in September, said he had sought a hearing on his claims before
being taken
into custody Tuesday, shortly after performing Naval funeral honors at a
ceremony for a veteran.
"It was an absolute nightmare, and a complete violation of federal laws,
left and right," Gill said.
The US Marshals Service confirmed Gill was transferred from Massachusetts to
Virginia on Tuesday but declined further comment.
A Defense Department spokesman said he had no immediate information about
the case on Thursday night.
Gill had filed a federal lawsuit against the US government in June alleging
he was removed from active duty last year after reporting his superiors'
ongoing
violation of the order disqualifying them from the Nashiri case.
His removal from active duty, Gill claimed in the lawsuit, was a violation
of the Military Whistleblower Protection Act.
The government has denied violating the act, and the suit could be dismissed
by the end of the month because of a procedural issue, court records show.
Travis Andersen can be reached at
travis.andersen@xxxxxxxxx.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/20/marshfield-senate-candidate-held
-marshals/AC88gm8L1AwG0qML3ObswJ/story.html
