U.S. military to review detainees' cases (public hearings today)

[Rose Siding]

snip>
Military officials say the hearings, in each case to be conducted before a panel of three officers at the base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the suspects are detained, could begin as soon as Friday.

The military says the tribunals will be neutral and each detainee will be assigned an officer to represent him.

Human rights lawyers dismiss the process as a sham, saying that as members of the military, the officers can't be considered impartial.

Nearly 600 men from more than 40 countries are being held at Guantanamo, some for more than two years. With few exceptions, they have not been allowed to consult lawyers. Most have had no contact with the outside world apart from letters from home, which are subject to censor.

The military announced it would review the cases after the Supreme Court ruled June 28 that the suspects have a right to challenge their detention before American civilian courts.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-07-23-guantanamo-reviews_x.htm

The information that the hearings are public comes from the BBC video report. I saw this report on PBS late last night, learning in the intro (but not on this linked clip) that this BBC reporter is the ONLY TV journalist there. The only US report (found on Google) is this AP that I snipped. It's printed in many local papers as well. Either the military has some press restrictions in place or the media decided not to cover this.

The video link is in a box, down slightly on the right.

http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=newsifs&tab=news&q=tribunals&go.x=27&go.y=10

[bpilgrim]

1. the imperial japanese held so many in NANKING, they were often outdoors

peace