YO: Link to live blog reports from the Gitmo trial today

[WilliamPitt]

DUer Kevin Spidel is now working for Amnesty International, and one of the staff lawyers in his shop is inside the Gitmo hearing room for this:

2 Gitmo detainees face trials
By ANDREW O. SELSKY
Associated Press Writer

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba --A Canadian who was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan and a Yemeni accused of chauffeuring Osama bin Laden confront terrorism charges Monday under a reconfigured military tribunal system that critics say remains unconstitutional.

Omar Khadr, now 20, and Salim Ahmed Hamdan are among the first three Guantanamo detainees charged with war crimes under the new system. The third, Australian David Hicks, pleaded guilty in March to providing material support to al-Qaida and is serving out a nine-month sentence in Australia.

But even as the U.S. military revs up its prosecutions of Guantanamo detainees - with the Pentagon saying it expects to eventually charge about 80 of the 380 prisoners held at this isolated base - questions remain about the legitimacy of the process.

The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in favor of a lawsuit brought by Hamdan, last June threw out a previous military tribunal system that was set up in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, calling it unconstitutional. Congress responded by creating new guidelines for war-crimes trials and President Bush signed them into law.

Hamdan's attorney, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, told The Associated Press that during the trial here he will challenge the new system, insisting it also is unconstitutional.

More: http://www.sunherald.com/311/story/68871.html

There are only four observers in the world allowed in to observe these Gitmo trials, and the lawyer doing the blog is one of them. Blog is here:

http://blogs.amnestyusa.org/denounce-torture/archive/2007/06/04/live-from-gitmo---06-04-07.htm

No laptops allowed in the hearing room, so she's going to be blogging via cell-phone texts. This is worth keeping an eye on today.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

1. k/r- this is a wonderful resource!

Thanks!! :kick:

[Kevin Spidel]

2. thank you...

but her sat phone does not allow much communication... so this was an update during a break she had. we hope to have more up soon as she is available to communicate.

[babylonsister]

3. Whoa, I didn't know the new guidelines were actually signed into law.

LCDR Swift has a monumental job ahead of him, and I hope he succeeds.
Thanks for the heads-up, and rec'd for more eyes.

[enough]

4. Thanks. K&R

[WiseButAngrySara]

5. KNR and thanks. ...n/t

[bigtree]

6. bizzare

a show trial which won't be shown

The real fear of the administration is the prospect of the American public and the world hearing the testimony (if allowed) of the illegal renditions, conditions of detention, and torture of these men. Also, of course, they don't have any 'evidence' outside of hearsay which will be recounted, third-hand, by U.S. military personnel.

[southern_belle]

7. k & r