Security rules stall Guantanamo defense efforts

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Security rules stall Guantanamo defense efforts
Tue May 20, 2008 4:07am IST
By Jane Sutton

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Security restrictions have stymied military defense lawyers' attempts to prepare for the trial of five Guantanamo prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 plot, according to a request for delay on Monday.

Defense lawyers are asking to postpone the arraignments that were tentatively set for June 5 because the Pentagon has not yet granted security clearances to some members of the defense teams nor provided a secure place for them to view secret intelligence documents.

Lawyers for one defendant, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, filed a request for a delay on Monday. Military lawyers assigned to defend four alleged co-conspirators were submitting similar requests, said one of Hawsawi's attorneys, Navy Lt. Gretchen Sosbee.

"They are all quite similar as we are all dealing with issues regarding clearances and classified spaces," Sosbee said via e-mail.

Arraignment was tentatively set on June 5 for the five, who include alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. They could be executed if convicted in the Guantanamo war crimes court of conspiring with al Qaeda to murder civilians.



Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-33662120080519

[Vincardog]

1. The only thing they are defending is the illegal mis-Administration and their minions.,