OCkey
Sep 28th, 2006, 01:28 PM
From AP (http://story.news.ask.com//article/20060928/D8KE1I3O0.html)
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - His ankles chained to the floor of the hearing room, a Saudi detainee hoped to convince three U.S. military officers that he is not a danger to the United States, has no intelligence value and should be released from the Guantanamo Bay prison.
But in his one shot this year at getting out of here, the detainee could not produce letters from his family that he wanted to submit as evidence. They were seized by the military, along with thousands of other documents from detainees, as it investigates whether the suicides of three prisoners in June were assisted or encouraged.
While the letters on their own may not have convinced the panel that the detainee should be released, the hearing shows that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's confiscation of more than 1,100 pounds of documents is hampering detainees' ability to confront accusations against them.
Correspondence between attorneys and their clients was among the documents seized. Lawyers for detainees say the military is violating attorney-client privilege and exacerbating the isolation of detainees by taking family pictures and other personal items.
A federal judge last week ordered an independent "filter team" to review the paperwork for evidence of complicity in the suicides. Irrelevant and protected documents must be returned to detainees, the judge ruled.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - His ankles chained to the floor of the hearing room, a Saudi detainee hoped to convince three U.S. military officers that he is not a danger to the United States, has no intelligence value and should be released from the Guantanamo Bay prison.
But in his one shot this year at getting out of here, the detainee could not produce letters from his family that he wanted to submit as evidence. They were seized by the military, along with thousands of other documents from detainees, as it investigates whether the suicides of three prisoners in June were assisted or encouraged.
While the letters on their own may not have convinced the panel that the detainee should be released, the hearing shows that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's confiscation of more than 1,100 pounds of documents is hampering detainees' ability to confront accusations against them.
Correspondence between attorneys and their clients was among the documents seized. Lawyers for detainees say the military is violating attorney-client privilege and exacerbating the isolation of detainees by taking family pictures and other personal items.
A federal judge last week ordered an independent "filter team" to review the paperwork for evidence of complicity in the suicides. Irrelevant and protected documents must be returned to detainees, the judge ruled.