U.S. to Allow Key Gitmo Detainees to Request Lawyers

[babylonsister]

U.S. to Allow Key Detainees to Request Lawyers
14 Terrorism Suspects Given Legal Forms at Guantanamo

By Josh White and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 28, 2007; Page A01

Fourteen "high-value" terrorism suspects who were transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from secret CIA prisons last year have been formally offered the right to request lawyers, a move that could allow them to join other detainees in challenging their status as enemy combatants in a U.S. appellate court.

The move, confirmed by Defense Department officials, will allow the suspects their first contact with anyone other than their captors and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross since they were taken into custody.

The prisoners, who include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, have not had access to lawyers during their year at Guantanamo Bay or while they were held, for varying lengths of time, at the secret CIA sites abroad. They were entitled to military "personal representatives" to assist them during the administrative process that determined whether they are enemy combatants.

U.S. officials have argued in court papers against granting lawyers access to the high-value detainees without special security rules, fearing that attorney-client conversations could reveal classified elements of the CIA's secret detention program and its controversial interrogation tactics.

Defense officials gave the detainees "Legal Representation Request" forms during the last week of August and the first week of September, and sources familiar with the process said at least four detainees have requested attorneys.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092702458.html?hpid=topnews

[annabanana]

1. So, Is there anyone down there who STILL is in a jurisprudinal black hole?

We can't allow the stain of the murder of habeas corpus to remain...

[Richard Steele]

2. I'm certain that information is classified. nm

[babylonsister]

3. No doubt about it. Can't have those detainees talking now, can we. nt

[jody]

4. How many other prisoners are in "secret CIA prisons" and denied habeas corpus? n/t