Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
May 1, 2008 A military judge ruled Salim Hamdan, also being held, can get information to aid his case. The U.S. had objected.
By Carol Rosenberg, McClatchy Newspapers
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- A military judge yesterday permitted Osama bin Laden's former driver to sign a personal plea to alleged senior al-Qaeda leaders who are detained separately on this base, despite U.S. government concerns that such communications could breach national security.
The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, issued the decision in pretrial arguments in the case of Salim Hamdan, 36, who for the first time was absent from a hearing.
Hamdan's lead defense lawyer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, has said that those men would know best of all what Hamdan did, and support his assertion that he was not a key al-Qaeda insider but a driver on the fringes of the terror network.
On Tuesday, Hamdan declared he was boycotting his trial and forbade his lawyers to speak on his behalf in his absence. He has called the military tribunals fundamentally flawed and vowed not to return unless he can be tried in a civilian U.S. court.
So yesterday his lawyers sat silent as Justice Department attorney John Murphy warned Allred that letting Hamdan send a signed note to reputed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others could expose "grave national security secrets."
Guards have isolated 16 so-called high-value detainees under top-secret circumstances somewhere on this base; to speak to them, their lawyers need special classified status.
Allred, however, ruled that there was no inherent danger in letting Hamdan write the men a note asking for their written testimony. It might even help lure him back to court, the judge said.
Hamdan, a Yemeni citizen, had never before missed a court date across nearly four years of on-again, off-again military commission sessions in his case.
He is charged as an al-Qaeda coconspirator and insider who worked as bin Laden's $200-a-month driver in Afghanistan. He is also accused of sometimes serving as bin Laden's bodyguard and faces life in prison if convicted.
His trial is scheduled to open June 2. It would be the first full-blown military commission, in which U.S. military officers are jurors.
Allred said he chose to hold yesterday's session on the assumption that Hamdan's lawyers could repair their rift with their client.
The key decision was Allred's approval of Hamdan's signing a note to several "high value detainees" held in segregation at Camp 7, appealing for their cooperation with his attorneys. Hamdan's lawyers have been trying for months to get the alleged 9/11 mastermind and other former CIA detainees to answer written questions about what role Hamdan played in al-Qaeda.
The Justice Department's prosecutor, Murphy, objected to the idea, saying there were inherent risks in any detainee communication with "the brain trust of some of the worst activity that the world has seen in our lifetime."
Allred had earlier ordered the government to let Hamdan's lawyers submit written questions to Camp 7 captives, in Arabic, through a government security officer with authority to censor national security secrets from the answers.
While Mohammed reportedly responded, no replies have been revealed to the defense. Now the lawyers want Hamdan to write directly to the men, in effect saying: "Please answer my lawyers' questions."
Murphy said the men should never have been allowed to know that Hamdan was held at Guantanamo.
The judge overruled the objection and authorized the prosecution to craft a short note with Hamdan's questions, translate it and let defense lawyers get Hamdan's signature on it.
May 1, 2008 A military judge ruled Salim Hamdan, also being held, can get information to aid his case. The U.S. had objected.
By Carol Rosenberg, McClatchy Newspapers
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- A military judge yesterday permitted Osama bin Laden's former driver to sign a personal plea to alleged senior al-Qaeda leaders who are detained separately on this base, despite U.S. government concerns that such communications could breach national security.
The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, issued the decision in pretrial arguments in the case of Salim Hamdan, 36, who for the first time was absent from a hearing.
Hamdan's lead defense lawyer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, has said that those men would know best of all what Hamdan did, and support his assertion that he was not a key al-Qaeda insider but a driver on the fringes of the terror network.
On Tuesday, Hamdan declared he was boycotting his trial and forbade his lawyers to speak on his behalf in his absence. He has called the military tribunals fundamentally flawed and vowed not to return unless he can be tried in a civilian U.S. court.
So yesterday his lawyers sat silent as Justice Department attorney John Murphy warned Allred that letting Hamdan send a signed note to reputed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others could expose "grave national security secrets."
Guards have isolated 16 so-called high-value detainees under top-secret circumstances somewhere on this base; to speak to them, their lawyers need special classified status.
Allred, however, ruled that there was no inherent danger in letting Hamdan write the men a note asking for their written testimony. It might even help lure him back to court, the judge said.
Hamdan, a Yemeni citizen, had never before missed a court date across nearly four years of on-again, off-again military commission sessions in his case.
He is charged as an al-Qaeda coconspirator and insider who worked as bin Laden's $200-a-month driver in Afghanistan. He is also accused of sometimes serving as bin Laden's bodyguard and faces life in prison if convicted.
His trial is scheduled to open June 2. It would be the first full-blown military commission, in which U.S. military officers are jurors.
Allred said he chose to hold yesterday's session on the assumption that Hamdan's lawyers could repair their rift with their client.
The key decision was Allred's approval of Hamdan's signing a note to several "high value detainees" held in segregation at Camp 7, appealing for their cooperation with his attorneys. Hamdan's lawyers have been trying for months to get the alleged 9/11 mastermind and other former CIA detainees to answer written questions about what role Hamdan played in al-Qaeda.
The Justice Department's prosecutor, Murphy, objected to the idea, saying there were inherent risks in any detainee communication with "the brain trust of some of the worst activity that the world has seen in our lifetime."
Allred had earlier ordered the government to let Hamdan's lawyers submit written questions to Camp 7 captives, in Arabic, through a government security officer with authority to censor national security secrets from the answers.
While Mohammed reportedly responded, no replies have been revealed to the defense. Now the lawyers want Hamdan to write directly to the men, in effect saying: "Please answer my lawyers' questions."
Murphy said the men should never have been allowed to know that Hamdan was held at Guantanamo.
The judge overruled the objection and authorized the prosecution to craft a short note with Hamdan's questions, translate it and let defense lawyers get Hamdan's signature on it.