By Courage to Resist. June 15, 2008

The U.S. Army’s case against 1st Lieutenant Ehren Watada remains unresolved, 2 years after Lt. Watada boldly and publicly refused deployment to Iraq with his unit in June 2006. Seven months ago U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle set in place a temporary injunction against a second court martial after the prosecution and military judge orchestrated a mistrial during the first trial in February 2007.

Lt. Watada remains stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington where he works a desk job and is under no special restrictions. Though his term of service ended in December 2006, these ongoing legal proceedings prevent his release from duty.

Lt. Watada supporters march in Seattle 10/27/07

Federal judge bars Army retrial of officer who refused Iraq War

By Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist. November 11, 2007

Civilian federal Judge Benjamin Settle blocked the Army’s plans for a second court-martial of prominent Iraq War military resister First Lieutenant Ehren Watada. Judge Settle’s preliminary ruling last Thursday found that a retrial would violate Lt. Watada’s Fifth Amendment protections against being tried for the same crime twice—known as double jeopardy.

Ruling by Judge Benjamin Settle (PDF). November 8, 2007

Select for poster PDF

October 19 update: U.S. District Court Judge Settle issued a postponement today giving himself at least until November 9 to review and weigh the "considerable portions" of the double jeopardy issue before him.

We demand: Stop the retrial, drop the charges, and honorable discharge now for Lt. Watada! Support all war resisters!

By Watada National Steering Committee. October 17, 2007

The Watada National Steering Committee of Friends and Family of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada urge to you act this week and next in support of Lt. Ehren Watada. He refused to fight in the illegal war in Iraq and is facing a possible second court martial and up to 6 years in prison.

By Mike Barber, Seattle Post-Intelligencer. October 5, 2007

A federal judge in Tacoma has delayed the court-martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, a Fort Lewis Army officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq.

In a rare intervention of a civilian court in the military justice system, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin H. Settle granted the emergency stay (PDF) shortly before close of business Friday. Watada's trial, slated to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, is now postponed until at least Oct. 26, the judge ruled.

In granting the stay at 4:48 p.m., Settle determined that he has jurisdiction under federal law to grant the stay and that Watada's claim that a second-trial amounts to double jeopardy is not frivolous and "has merit" for consideration.

Watada supporters rally in SF

By Courage to Resist. October 5, 2007 Update

Lt. Ehren Watada's lawyer Jim Lobsenz was in the civilian U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Tacoma yesterday arguing the Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus (PDF) in front of Judge Benjamin Settle. The petition would order a halt the court-martial retrial currently scheduled for next Tuesday, October 9. based on Ehren’s protection against Double Jeopardy as outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

Judge Settle—who was sworn in on the federal bench just last week—seemed more concerned with jurisdiction than the merits of Ehren's petition. This has led to speculation that Judge Settle will wait until the very last moment (in order to give the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces every opportunity to step in first) before issuing a ruling—possibly as late as Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the Editorial Board of the daily Seattle Post Intelligencer has called for Ehren's release from the Army today "without further ado," and Amnesty International declared that a conviction would violation international rights.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE

By Amnesty International. October 5, 2007

AI Index: AMR 51/152/2007 (Public) | News Service No: 191

USA: Conviction of war objector would violate international rights

Amnesty International today expressed serious concern that US Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada could face up to six year's imprisonment solely for his conscientious objection to participating in the Iraq war. Ehren Watada is due to face US court-martial on 9 October for refusing to deploy to Iraq.

Select image for official Army announcement

Court hears arguement to halt Tuesday retrial
October 5, 2007 Update

By Courage to Resist. October 3, 2007

The Army announced today their intent to retry First Lt. Ehren Watada next week, Tuesday, October 9 at Fort Lewis, Washington. As scheduled, the retrial will be heard by the same military judge that orchestrated the February mistrial in order to give the prosecution a “do-over” after they rested their case against the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq.

Supporters of Lt. Watada and GI resisters are being urged to take action to highlight double jeopardy outrage!