BRIEF: Guantanamo Bay Detainee Cases Face Controversy

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba- Criticism greeted the Feb. 11 announcement that Military prosecutors filed capital charges for six Guantanamo Bay detainees. Among those charged are Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former Al Qaeda operations chief who has said he was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, and five other men who are said to be “logistical coordinators” of the attacks. The charges include conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism. These men will be tried in military commissions that were initially declared illegal by the Supreme Court in 2006. Congress has since set up a new version of the trials, but logistical questions still plague the proceedings. It is contested whether evidence obtained through coercive interrogations, such as waterboarding, will be admitted into the trials. Credibility of the entire process is being called into question. Three prosecutors requested to be transferred out of the Office of Military Commissions in 2004, claiming that they had been told that the process had been rigged and that they had been told by the chief prosecutor at the time that they did not need evidence to get convictions.

For more information, please see:

New York Times - Hurdles Seen as Capital Charges Are Filed in 9/11 Case - 12 February 2008

Boston Globe - Trial could put focus on interrogation - 12 February 2008

The Nation - Gitmo Trials Rigged - 20 February 2008