Attorney Stuart Couch and author Jess Bravin will discuss the ethical issues surrounding post-9/11 military commissions at Guantanamo Bay at 9:30 a.m., Thursday, March 20, in the Student Union, Multipurpose Room.
UNC Charlotte’s Pre-Law Society and Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology are cosponsoring this free, public event.
Bravin, author of “The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay,” has investigated and reported on the post-9/11 military commissions at Guantanamo Bay since 2001. A graduate of Harvard College and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Bravin covers the Supreme Court for the Wall Street Journal. Previously, he served as the United Nations correspondent and editor of the WSJ/California weekly. He received the Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize for coverage of the International Criminal Court, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award for coverage of the legal response to 9/11.
Couch, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and helicopter pilot, was assigned to prosecute Guantanamo Bay prisoner and suspected terrorist Mohamedou Ould Slahi in 2003. Throughout the course of his investigation, Couch determined that confessions made by Slahi had been obtained through coercive interrogation tactics that constituted torture and violated international and domestic law. He made the decision not to prosecute Slahi. For his actions related to this case, Couch was awarded the American Bar Association’s 2007 “Minister of Justice Award” and the German Bar Association’s 2009 “Pro Reo Award.” He currently serves as a federal immigration judge in Charlotte.