US ordered to hand over Red Cross
files on conditions at Guantánamo
Bay
Military judge in trial of 9/11
suspects says correspondence must be disclosed, but ICRC insists its
assessments are confidential
Spencer Ackerman in Washington
theguardian.com, Wednesday 6
November 2013 17.26 EST
The military judge in the 9/11
tribunal has ordered the disclosure of correspondence between the International Committee of the Red Cross
and the US government about conditions at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.
The extraordinary ruling, issued
by Col James Pohl on Tuesday at Guantánamo, represents a rare opportunity for
disclosure of the assessments of the only human rights group with access to the
detention facility since 2002.
Pohl’s ruling comes expressly
against the wishes of the Red Cross, which argued at Guantánamo in June that
its communications with governments enjoy an “absolute privilege”, placing them
beyond the purview of the military commission currently preparing to hear the
fate of the 9/11 defendants.
The document trove “is the only
independent historical record” of what has taken place inside Guantánamo prison
walls, said defense counsel James Connell, a Defense Department civilian.
But there will be no immediate
public access to nearly a decade of ICRC documentation at Guantánamo.
Pohl will be the first person to
see the trove, which he ordered produced to him by December 2, and he will make
a determination afterwards on whether the prosecution or defense counsels in
the 9/11 trial may view them.
Pohl issued his ruling in response
to a series of pre-trial motions by the defense that seek, as he wrote on
Tuesday, “to develop potential mitigation evidence and to ensure the conditions
for detention are in compliance with international law agreements and
standards”. Such evidence is relevant to the defense’s contentions of illegal
pre-trial confinement, which is sure to become an issue during sentencing in
the capital case should the defendants be found guilty.
"Assuming the defense gets
some information out of this, which not been decided but where we hope it’s
going, we’ll use that in crafting our arguments about pretrial punishment,”
Connell said.
The ICRC argued to Pohl in the
spring that there was an “absolute right to non-disclosure of the ICRC's confidential
information.” The humanitarian organization has a blanket position that
publication of its work may jeopardize its access, granted by governments
around the world, to care for detainees and prisoners who might otherwise be
disappeared or abused.
Pohl rejected that argument,
drawing a distinction between phases of trial.
Civilian courts in the US “have
protected ICRC reports from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information
Act,” Pohl wrote, “but none have concluded there is privilege from discovery in
a criminal proceeding,” referring to a trial phase concerning the production of
evidence.
Pohl’s ruling also goes far beyond
the production of ICRC correspondents regarding the five Guantánamo detainees
accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks, none of whom were at
Guantánamo before 2006.
The colonel ordered “all
correspondence between the United States and the ICRC, in the possession of the
United States pertaining to the ICRC inspections of, and work at, the detention
facilities at the US Naval Station, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba” produced to the court.
It is unknown how large a document
collection the ICRC and the US
government have amassed over a decade of work at Guantanamo.
“I suspect it’s quite large,” said
Connell.
“I wouldn’t begin to guess the
amount of correspondence that’s involved,” said Lt Col Todd Breasseale, a
Pentagon-based spokesman for detention issues.
Pohl’s ruling appears to have
caught many of the relevant players offguard. "The ICRC takes note that
Judge Pohl did not find an absolute privilege of non-disclosure under US law for ICRC materials," said Anna
Nelson, a spokeswoman for the ICRC in Washington.
"However, his decision does not mean that ICRC information is unprotected
nor does it result in a public release of this information."
"Judge Pohl has undertaken to
review the material in camera, under seal, which the ICRC views as an
indication of the seriousness with which the Military Commission is treating
it," Nelson said.
“As we have only just received the
order, the Department is not currently in a position to render a fully informed
contemplation of what the judge's order actually demands,” Breasseale said.
The next-pretrial hearing at
Guantánamo in the September 11 case is slated for December 16. The trial is not
expected to begin until sometime in 2014.
Guantánamo
Bay
Amnesty
International declared Guantanamo Bay prison 'Gulag of our times' in 2005.
Note: Open
Society Foundations was a funder for Amnesty
International, and the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for Amnesty International, Refugees
International, the Brookings
Institution (think tank), the International Rescue Committee, and the
Aspen Institute (think tank).
William H. Taft
IV is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and the international adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Steven
E. Carr is a director at Refugees
International, and was a governor for the American Red Cross.
Carol Ann Haake
is a director at Refugees International,
and was a governor for the American Red
Cross.
Michael W.
Hawkins is a director at Refugees
International, and was a governor for the American Red Cross.
Suzanne Nora
Johnson is a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a governor for the American Red Cross.
Ann
F. Kaplan was a governor for the American
Red Cross, and is a member of the Belizean
Grove.
Belizean_Grove
is the equivalent to the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.
George H.W.
Bush is a member of the Bohemian Club, and was a director at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Juanita Castro
collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is Fidel Castro & Raul Castro’s
sister.
Fidel
Castro is Juanita Castro’s
brother, and was the president of Cuba.
Raul
Castro is Juanita Castro’s
brother, and the president of Cuba.
George H.W. Bush talks about the NWO; Walter Cronkite said
he is glad to sit at the Right Hand of Satan
Walter
L. Cronkite was a member of the Bohemian Club.
Henry A. Kissinger is a member of the Bohemian Club, a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, a
director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a
lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
William
Lucy was a director at the International Rescue Committee, and a
governor for the American Red Cross.
Walter
Isaacson is the president & CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank),
and was the chairman & CEO for CNN.
Andrea
Koppel was a correspondent for CNN,
is the director of international communications for the American Red Cross, and married to Kenneth M. Pollack.
Kenneth M.
Pollack is married to Andrea Koppel,
a senior fellow at the Saban Center for
Middle East Policy, and was a senior fellow, Middle
East policy for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy was a policy center at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Suzanne Nora
Johnson is a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a governor for the American Red Cross.
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