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A Look Inside The Guantanamo Military Tribunals

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Sun May 22, 2005 at 11:12:18 PM EST
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The Associated Press this week obtained 2,000 pages of documents related to the military tribunals held at Guantanamo.

Their stories are tucked inside nearly 2,000 pages of documents the U.S. government released to the Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Representing a fraction of some 558 tribunals held since July, the testimonies capture frustration on both sides - judges wrestling with mistaken identity and scattered information from remote corners of the world, and prisoners complaining there's no evidence against them.

The detainees' accounts are harrowing. Testimony from at least 60 prisoners have been filed as part of a federal court habeas lawsuit challenging their detention. You can read them here.

Another AP article examines the numbers and the tribunal rules:

Tribunals that ended in January 2005 were held by three-member panels led by a president for more than 550 detainees from more than 40 countries. Only 38 men have been released as a result of the tribunals.

Many refused to attend. Detainees were not allowed lawyers, only a military-appointed military attorney as a "personal representative." At the hearings, the detainee is present only to hear unclassified evidence _ usually a string of allegations. The prisoner is not allowed to attend another session hearing evidence considered classified to protect U.S. national security.

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    A Look Inside The Guantanamo Military Tribunals | 1 comment (1 topical)
    Re: A Look Inside The Guantanamo Military Tribunal (none / 0) (#1)
    by Darryl Pearce on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:17 PM EST
    Just one point from our own Declaration of Independence: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury ...it's a little frightening to see how many tyrannical ways we've been treating people in Afghanistan and Iraq (and other places around the world).

    A Look Inside The Guantanamo Military Tribunals | 1 comment (1 topical)