In the Alice in Wonderland meets 1984 world of the U.S. concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,
official state secrecy about matters already known the world over
trumps the human rights of the prisoners still languishing there,
according to lawyers trying to represent them despite the bizarre rules
that hamper their efforts.
Take the issue of torture, which arose at a recent Guantánamo Bay
hearing. It is an indisputable fact that the U.S. tortured detainees,
including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, during
interrogations between 2001 and 2006. Yet when defense attorney Jason
Wright pointed out at a recent hearing that his client “was subjected to
waterboarding for 183 sessions,” Judge James Pohl ruled him out of
order for discussing classified information that can be uttered only
behind closed doors.
Fellow defense attorney Cheryl Bormann complained that such rulings
undermine the defense team, whose efforts keep coming up against “a
brick wall because of the classification issue.”
“You can’t gag somebody about talking about torture and then want to kill them,” she argued.
***Read article at ALLGOV***
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