Munaf was represented at his trial at CCCI by Badie Arrief Izzat, an Iraqi attorney. Izzat claimed that the trial was unfair because Munaf was not allowed to bring or question any witnesses at the trial. In addition, Izzat claimed that the judge was ready to dismiss the case of his client, but that shortly after two U.S. military officials privately spoke with the judge the death penalty verdict was handed down. Munaf's defense team also claimed that his confession was produced under torture and that their client was nothing more than a captured hostage during the kidnapping episode. These allegations were set forth in an unsworn declaration in writing under penalty of perjury submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from Sean Riordan, then a third year law student at UCLA School of Law who was working as an intern at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. The U.S. Government provided rebuttals to these allegations in several sworn declarations filed with the court during the U.S. proceedings.