More Trials Unlikely At Guantanamo Site, Defense Counsel Says
Delays caused by the administrations review of the war crimes tribunals and defense efforts to obtain evidence likely will limit remaining proceedings to pre-trial hearings such as those being conducted this week, said U.S. Navy Commander Suzanne Lachelier, defense counsel for detainees including alleged Sept. 11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh.
“I dont see it to be feasible,” Lachelier told reporters yesterday after the first of two days of hearings at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo. “It takes too long to get answers to discovery, it takes too long to even just mobilize everybody down here.”
Self-described Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators will have a hearing today on evidence the defense is requesting related to whether two of the defendants, including Binalshibh, are mentally competent to stand trial.
The uncertainty clouding the future of such cases reflects the dilemmas surrounding the U.S. Military Commission process. Obama has said commissions will continue even while his administration halts new charges and trials until it decides what to do with more than 200 detainees held in Guantanamos camps.
Overseas Transfers
The administration has concluded that at least 54 of the remaining prisoners at Guantanamo are eligible to be transferred overseas, according to an administration official familiar with the matter. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a task force has reviewed more than half of the 229 detainees to determine which ones should be transferred, tried or held indefinitely.
U.S. Navy Captain John Murphy, the chief military prosecutor who took over in May, declined to comment on the effect of changes that are being considered. He said that, while Obamas January executive order barred new trials or charges, he is preparing existing cases involving 66 defendants at Guantanamo for trial.
“Every day, Ive got nearly 100 people in my office that are working on them,” Murphy told reporters at Guantanamo before the hearings began this week. “Were ready to go to trial whenever we are told to do so, but were awaiting our direction from the administration.”
Hearings scheduled in high-security buildings at Guantanamo involve transporting a planeload of lawyers, staff, journalists and families of victims from the U.S. and housing them in military tents or other facilities.
Joint Case
While Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators are representing themselves in a joint case, each has been entitled to or required to accept military defense assistance and civilian counsel. Five family members of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are slated to attend the hearing, flown in under U.S. government provisions to allow them access on a rotating basis.
The Obama administration, which sought a first postponement earlier this year, says it needs until Sept. 17 to make further changes in the commission system that it says will reduce the odds of unfair trials.
Complicate Proceedings
Any changes in the rules may further complicate proceedings before the cases can go to trial, Lachelier said. Defense lawyers also have complained of roadblocks in obtaining the evidence they need from the government to properly represent their clients.
“You can rewrite the rules all you want,” said U.S. Navy Lieutenant Richard Federico. “But Congress cant simply draft legislation to fix the bureaucratic and interagency issues that have plagued this process from the beginning.”
A military judge granted the governments delay request in the case of Federicos client, Mohammed Kamin, an Afghan national alleged to have attended an al-Qaeda training camp and ferried weapons intended for attacks.
Judges in two other cases, those of Omar Ahmed Khadr and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, didnt say when they would rule on similar postponement requests.
Khadr, a Canadian who was 15 when he was taken into U.S. custody in 2002, is the youngest detainee at Guantanamo. He is accused of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan with a grenade during a firefight.