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Secret area of Guantánamo could be opened to UN watchdog for first time
Source: The Guardian
Secret area of Guantánamo could be opened to UN watchdog for first time
Exclusive: Attorneys for alleged 9/11 co-conspirator request UN access
to Camp 7 to prevent evidence they say was coerced during torture being
used against him
Spencer Ackerman in New York
Thursday 12 May 2016 19.39 BST
The most secret corner of Guantánamo Bay could be opened up to the UN torture watchdog for the first time, if an audacious legal gambit succeeds.
Attorneys for Ammar al-Baluchi, one of the accused 9/11 co-conspirators facing a military tribunal at Guantánamo Bay, will request on Thursday that the judge in the case order access to Guantánamo’s Camp 7 – where he and other detainees formerly in brutal CIA custody reside practically incommunicado – for Juan Mendez, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture.
They contend that depriving Mendez of access to Camp 7 also deprives Baluchi of evidence relevant to his defense, including his claims of torture, as he is seeking to prevent statements he made in detention that he says were coerced from being used against him during his military commission.
Supporting them are a respected US diplomat, the former chief counsel for the US navy and a prominent British human rights advocate.
Mendez has sought unrestricted access to Guantánamo throughout his tenure, something the Obama administration has denied him. Mendez, who is soon to depart his post, has rejected offers by the administration to tour the relatively open aspects of the detention facility under tightly controlled military supervision, something the military permits for visiting dignitaries and journalists.
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Exclusive: Attorneys for alleged 9/11 co-conspirator request UN access
to Camp 7 to prevent evidence they say was coerced during torture being
used against him
Spencer Ackerman in New York
Thursday 12 May 2016 19.39 BST
The most secret corner of Guantánamo Bay could be opened up to the UN torture watchdog for the first time, if an audacious legal gambit succeeds.
Attorneys for Ammar al-Baluchi, one of the accused 9/11 co-conspirators facing a military tribunal at Guantánamo Bay, will request on Thursday that the judge in the case order access to Guantánamo’s Camp 7 – where he and other detainees formerly in brutal CIA custody reside practically incommunicado – for Juan Mendez, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture.
They contend that depriving Mendez of access to Camp 7 also deprives Baluchi of evidence relevant to his defense, including his claims of torture, as he is seeking to prevent statements he made in detention that he says were coerced from being used against him during his military commission.
Supporting them are a respected US diplomat, the former chief counsel for the US navy and a prominent British human rights advocate.
Mendez has sought unrestricted access to Guantánamo throughout his tenure, something the Obama administration has denied him. Mendez, who is soon to depart his post, has rejected offers by the administration to tour the relatively open aspects of the detention facility under tightly controlled military supervision, something the military permits for visiting dignitaries and journalists.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/12/guantanamo-camp-7-torture-ammar-al-baluchi-un