Guantanamo commander defends prison mail review
Guantanamo commander defends prison mail review
Jane Sutton
Reuters
8:36 p.m. CST, January 17, 2012
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - The commander of the Guantanamo detention camp testified on Tuesday that it was necessary for Pentagon contractors to review the confidential mail prisoners receive from their U.S. military lawyers in order to ensure it did not contain contraband.
Defense lawyers in the trial of alleged al Qaeda bomber Abd al Rahim al Nashiri said they had done nothing to earn that mistrust. They contend the order violates confidentiality rules and forces them to illegally disclose trial strategy, violating the defendants' right to a fair trial.
It is also an ethical violation that potentially could put their own law licenses in jeopardy, they said.
"We cannot follow this order," Nashiri's military lawyer, Navy Lieutenant Commander Stephen Reyes, said in the high-security courtroom on Tuesday.
More:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-guantanamotre80h05j-20120117,0,7417048.story