Washington – Fourteen “high-value” terrorism suspects who were transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from secret CIA prisons last year have been offered the right to request lawyers, a move that could allow them to join other detainees in challenging their status as enemy combatants in a U.S. appellate court.
The move, confirmed by Defense Department officials, would allow the suspects their first contact with anyone other than their captors and Red Cross representatives since they were taken into custody.
The prisoners, who include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, have not had access to attorneys during their year at Guantanamo Bay or while they were held, for varying lengths of time, at the secret CIA sites abroad.
Defense officials have given the detainees “Legal Representation Request” forms, and sources familiar with the process said at least four detainees have requested lawyers so far.
The Detainee Treatment Act, enacted in late 2005, gives Guantanamo Bay captives the right to challenge their enemy combatant designations in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Defense and intelligence officials said the decision to allow legal representation did not represent a shift in policy.
But lawyers and advocacy groups pressing for legal rights for the detainees contend there has been a change in tone.
Lawyer Gitanjali Gutierrez, who for a year has been denied contact with the detainee she represents, said she believes the effort is the Defense Department “trying to put some gloss on the idea that this review process is legitimate and the high-value detainees are being given access to the courts.”
