Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley has been a military lawyer in the U.S. for 20 years. Lt-Col Bradley spent six years as a regular officer in the judge-advocate general's branch of the US Air Force and worked for a further seven years for an organisation providing legal representation to death row inmates. Having volunteered following an appeal for military lawyers to take up the cases of Guantanamo Bay detainees in 2005, Bradley became the defence counsel for British resident Binyam Mohamed, who was held at the prison camp for five years before he was released on 23 February 2009. Pressure on UK On 9 February 2009, Lt-Col Bradley travelled to Britain to urge the Foreign Office to press harder for Binyam Mohamed's release. Bradley told BBC News that her client was very ill as a result of a hunger strike. Charges against Binyam Mohamed were dropped in 2008. He has alleged torture, and the UK government has been criticised after the full details were kept secret. "Mr Mohamed needs to be released now and not later," said Lt-Col Bradley. When asked why he was still at the camp, despite charges being dropped and the British government saying it was pressing for his release, she said: "That's the million dollar question. He should not be there." Alleged torture On 5 February 2009, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband made a statement to the House of Commons concerning Binyam Mohamed's case. Interviewed by Jon Snow of Channel 4 News, Lt-Col Bradley asserted that there was no doubt that Mohamed had been tortured. Prior to Bradley's meeting with David Miliband on 12 February 2009, she wrote in The Guardian: "The greatest injustice I fear is that Binyam Mohamed is still being held at Guantanamo Bay only to suppress evidence of his torture. Following Mohamed's arrival in Britain on 23 February 2009, he released a statement which did not detail the alleged torture he had endured. However, Lt-Col Bradley did not skimp on any of the detail: "He had a scalpel used on his chest and on his genitals. He was severely beaten. There are also periods of times where he was hung up by his wrists - all Spanish Inquisition techniques - and left there for weeks upon end." Promise kept Lt-Col Bradley's job done, she can return to the U.S. - perhaps to aid further Guantanamo inmates - "thrilled beyond what words can say". She added: "I was able to keep a promise. There's not many promises I can keep but the last time I saw him at Guantanamo Bay I told him 'next time I see you Binyam, you'll be a free man'. "So I'm overwhelmed, I'm thrilled that in these three years of representing him, keep at least one promise."
OK Yvonne Bradley is one tough woman, she is a true hero. I can not imagine anyone else doing what she did- taking on the military establishment while she was still in the military, never backing down- talk about talking truth to power, and then acting on her beliefs to fight for what she knows is right. I'm really glad she got the job of defending Binyam, and i'm sure he is too.
