For the first time, the U.S. government has permitted a civilian lawyer to travel to Guantanamo Bay to discuss with prisoners a legal challenge in U.S. courts to their detention, the Pentagon said on Monday. Attorney Gita Gutierrez traveled to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Sunday for meetings with two British detainees, Feroz Abbasi, 23, and Moazzam Begg, 36, a defense official and human rights lawyers said. But two other civilian lawyers who had been scheduled to travel to Guantanamo at the same time as Gutierrez refused to make the trip because of what they called onerous last-minute conditions imposed by the Bush administration. Gutierrez’s trip marked the first time the U.S. government has permitted a civilian lawyer to meet a Guantanamo prisoner since the Supreme Court on June 28 gave the detainees the right to seek their freedom through the civilian court system. Since then, human rights lawyers have filed petitions in federal court on behalf of dozens of Guantanamo detainees. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.