The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
May 7, 2012

Guantánamo Defendants Stage "Peaceful Resistance" to Military Commissions 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


 
At Guantánamo, lawyers for five prisoners being tried by a military
commission for their role in the Sept. 11 attacks said the judicial
process was rigged to lead to the execution of their clients. During
Saturday's arraignment, the prisoners refused to talk or listen to the
judge. One prisoner was brought to the court in restraints. A lawyer for
one of the prisoners said the actions of the men was a “peaceful
resistance to an unjust system.” Attorney James Harrington criticized
the military commission's rules that bar discussion of the time his
client, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, spent in a secret CIA prison.

James Harrington: "Well, there are certain areas that are off limits for
us, including questions about their confinement and questions about
things that have happened to them in the past, and until there are some
changes in the rules that we operate under, we have severe constraints
in exploring those issues, and they bear significantly on this case, and
the issues that ultimately will be litigated."

Army Brigadier General Mark Martins defended the military commission
process.

Gen. Mark Martins: "Some have said that any attempt to seek
accountability within the military commission system must inevitably be
tainted by torture. To those who have these concerns, we say: We
acknowledge your skepticism, but we also say that the law prohibits the
use of any statement obtained as the result of torture, or a cruel
inhuman or degrading treatment. And we will implement the law. These
proceedings will be fair, and I submit that we military judge advocates
who are carrying out assigned duties in this process have some standing
to maintain that they will be fair."

 

.