NEW YORK-
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Department of Defense to release documents detailing mistreatment or disciplinary action taken against detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other information sought by The Associated Press.
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said the government must provide the news organization with the information despite government claims that doing so would violate detainees’ privacy.
“The public interest in disclosing government malfeasance is well-established,” the judge wrote in saying that the AP had demonstrated the need.
A spokeswoman for federal prosecutors, Lauren McDonough, said the government had no immediate comment.
Earlier this year, the judge ordered the Department of Defense to turn over to the AP unredacted copies of transcripts and documents related to 558 military hearings in which detainees were permitted to challenge their incarcerations.
The government’s treatment of the hundreds of prisoners at the eastern Cuba prison camp has troubled human rights groups. Most have been held without being charged or publicly identified since investigations were begun into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The AP filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuits seeking the documents last year. The government turned over the transcripts of the 558 tribunals but redacted facts about each detainee’s identity before the judge ordered it to release versions that included such information.
The detainees are from Afghanistan, Russia, Persian Gulf countries and elsewhere. Many were captured in Afghanistan.
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